Chronicles of the Enchiridion Part 1: One Small Spark
by GearSolidSnake
Summary: What if Regular Show and Adventure Time existed in the same universe and the Regular Show characters were in Mushroom War? In Part 1, Mordecai and Rigby encounter certain magical forces known in Adventure Time, leading up to the Mushroom War. In it, they struggle to overcome insanity as the world outside of them is on the brink of war *PART 2 OUT NOW* *REWRITE OF CERTAIN CHAPTERS*
1. Prologue

This is a connection story between Adventure Time and Regular Show. **This is not just a random cross-over, this story portrays both shows as if they are in the same universe and will try to offer origin stories to many Adventure Time items and the end of the Regular Show story, such as the Enchiridion, the Mushroom War, Marceline, the Candy Kingdom, and the Lich.** YES, I know there is one major, MAJOR flaw that I have in this set of stories, but I have tried to explain its legitimacy to the fullest extent.

**This story is too large to make into one story so it will be broken up into multiple stories spending time equally in both Regular Show and Adventure Time universes. Follow me, the author (GearSolidSnake), for the future stories after each one.**

**::Rated T for this one, but later stories will be rated M due to language, violence, sexual themes, and mature themes (addiction, guilt, betrayal, _murder_, and loneliness):: **They are still some happy moments though.

Enjoy!

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Regular Show or Adventure Time, all rights are reserved by Cartoon Network. None of these characters or these items are owned by me.

* * *

_Prologue_

"WOO! Now that's what I'm talking 'bout!" Finn exclaimed with childlike glee. "I haven't gone adventuring in weeks! Nothing clears your head of lady-bis like raiding dungeons, huh Jake?"

"Ughhh, yeah. Sure man..." Jake said with an unenthusiastic tone as he trudged behind his adoptive brother. Jake was just about beat. He didn't understand how Finn had the energy to keep doing this junk. He was really taking his break-up hard if he was just masking it with more adventures. "I think I'll just go home and take a quick power nap..." he said with a yawn.

"Aww, what? But there's still so much-... Jake, do you see that?" Finn said as he stopped in his tracks, staring intently at the object.

"Why, what is it?" Jake asked but soon froze as well.

It was bomb, perfectly intact, laying in the stump of a tree left over from the Mushroom War. Whatever symbol was on the side made no sense to Finn whatsoever. White, blue and red stripes? Finn had never seen such a pattern. Usually the bombs he did find were corroded and completely unrecognizable. But this one looked pristine, fresh off the ugh-... whatever they shot these off from.

Finn walked towards it, almost enchanted with curiosity. Jake hadn't seen any in this good of quality either, which worried him a little. Jake called out to him, "Finn, I-I wouldn't get too close if I were you!"

"Relax man, I just want to get a better look at it. It'll be fine," Finn said reassuringly. He crouched down and inspected the side of the missile. He never saw that flag before, nor did he ever see the writing it was in. It was intriguing, every inch of it.

Jake tried to get Finn to follow him, "Hey, uh, Finn. Come on man, let's head home! I'll make us some of your favorite meatloaf!"

"Yeah, that's cool. I'll be there in a second..." Finn said as he remained concentrated on the object before him. He had always seen ruined versions of these, but never one like this. "I wonder how these things work. Maybe If I just lift this panel here, I could get a better look inside..."

_*click* _

Jake stretched his arms around Finn and pulled him just in the nick of time. The bomb went off with a thunderous explosion which lifted both the duo off their feet and colliding with the ground.

It took a moment for the two to recover. A smoldering, burning wreck littered the ground where the explosion occurred.

"What the Glob, Finn?! Are you trying to get killed?!" Jake screamed as he recovered.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know more about where my peeps are from. I mean I am the only human and all..."

Where did this come from? It had seemed like ages since Finn cared about those lousy humans. But why all of a sudden? Why now? Jake pondered this as he said, "Just be careful man, and watch what you touch next time. Okay?"

Finn replied, "Yeah, okay..."

After a few minutes of walking, Finn finally asked the burning question, "Hey Jake... How did the Mushroom War start anyway...?"

* * *

**_997 years earlier..._**

There was nothing he could do but keep running. Though he couldn't see it, he felt them getting closer, he was sure of it. His hunches never lied to him before. _Bang_, shots rang out from behind, the rattle of the machine guns slowly getting closer their mark. Abandoned by his friends, by the people he loved, Rigby was completely and utterly alone on this, slowly being enclosed from all sides. Thank God that of all the places he could be, it was in the forest; the trees providing him cover every step of the way. The book urged him on, telling him exactly what Rigby needed to do. At this point, Rigby already knew what would come if he dared bend his will again...not like last time...

There was no option for him but to run, and just continue running. All of a sudden his path was cut off, three of them stepped out in front of his path, machine guns firing directly at Rigby. But it was to no avail as Rigby immediately released a shield wall in front of him. If there was anything he should be thankful to _Him _for is the powers Rigby had acquired. Every bullet was blocked as Rigby just kept running.

"Crap!" Rigby screamed. A cliff cut him off; the drop was too high to jump down. By the time he had turned around, he was already surrounded. There was at least 15 of them, with more most likely following behind. _"You know what you need to do"_ whispered the book into his head. _"Let me in, RIGBY!"_ NO! Not again! He promised himself he would never succumb to _HIM_ again.

The machine guns were now raised to him. He didn't have much time left. Rigby was in a panic now. There was no way out of this one. "Stand down and put your hands behind your head!" The voices yelled directed at Rigby. The courageous raccoon wasn't going to surrender, not like this. He made a fireball in his right hand. "LAST WARNING, STAND DOWN!" Rigby remained unyielding.

"OPEN FIRE!" The bullets rang out, each with a thunderous crack. Rigby had made a shield completely covering his body like a bubble; It was just in time, successfully blocking the shots, at least for now. But this couldn't last for long. It was weakening, gradually fading with each shot. If he was in better shape he could keep it formed for hours, but not now... now he was exhausted, tired, and weak..._  
_

"_Aren't you tired Rigby?" _The voice was soothing to Rigby. "_Aren't you tired Rigby? ...__Let me in Rigby."_ At this point _He _was right: there was no real choice. Rigby let go... and The Lich took control...


	2. You Should Have Just Left it There

_**Two Months**_ **Earlier... ::The beginning may seem slow, but once it picks up, it really picks up::**

Nothing could have been better for Mordecai right now. Great job at the park, a great best friend named Rigby, and especially a great girlfriend, Margaret. They had been going out for more than a year so far, and he hoped he could take it _further_. He was in absolute love with Margaret. Nothing could be better for him. Nothing could go wrong... nothing...

"Dude, I'm totally going to do it tonight!" Mordecai said excitedly to Rigby.

"Pfft, that's what you've been saying for the last week... and the week before... and the week before."

"I know, I know, but tonight is going to be the night, it's our anniversary!" Mordecai replied.

"You keep saying that, but it never happens. This is turning out longer than the time it took to finally kiss her. And what even makes you think she's going to say yes? It's only been a year man" Rigby said pessimistically.

"She's got to, she's got to..." Mordecai said silently to himself. It's true, they had been dating for only a year, but Mordecai felt that what they had was beyond special. So special that he was willing to risk everything, their entire relationship, for one question...

"Maaaan, why does Benson have to make US clean the boats! It's like THE worst job in the park!" Rigby groaned and complained.

"Dude, just stopped complaining. I hate this as much as you, but it's got to get done, and I want to do it as quickly as possible." Mordecai replied

"Why," Rigby said, now with a cheesy tone in his voice, "So get to your daaaaattteeee?"

"Dude shut up!" Mordecai said as he playfully nudged him. Rigby tried to push him back, but Mordecai barely moved an inch. Shaking his head, he said "Always the weaker one. Now come on help me finish"

Rigby got a running start this time, he HATED being made fun of, it happened so often that he was outright hostile if anyone tried to joke to him. Time to prove that he wasn't weak after all. The running start was enough to do it, Rigby sent Mordecai flying off the dock into the lake. "Hmmm hmm hmm, now who's the weaker one?" Rigby said triumphantly with his arms crossed.

"Goddammit Rigby," Mordecai thought to himself underwater, "Always such a..." Something had caught his attention, he lost his train of thought. He heard what sounded like whispers, something calling his name "_Mordecai..." _Just then Mordecai saw what appeared to be a brown book bag. "Why was this all the way at the bottom of the lake?"

Mordecai swam down to it and grabbed one of the straps. He tried tugging on it, but the bag hardly budged. Then he remembered where he was, he started to feel his lungs tightening. He tried to leave the bag and swim back up, but something stopped him. "_No, don't leave me" _the voice called out to him. It was almost soothing to the ear, _"Stay with me, it's been quite lonely,"_ Something inside the bag was making the voice. He didn't want to stay, Mordecai was losing air quickly. He tried to leave, but it was too late. He gargled, then blacked out...

* * *

He woke up, coughing and spitting out water. His vision blurred, he could see himself being dragged out of the water. "Dude, are you okay?! Come on Mordecai, say something!" Rigby said frantically as he looked over his friend. Mordecai could see Rigby was exhausted and out of breath. Rigby could swim, quite well in fact, but even he had a hard time getting Mordecai out of the lake.

*cough* "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for that" Mordecai replied.

"Forget it, like it never happened. Dude I am so sorry, I didn't-"

"It's okay man. Like you said: 'forget it'" It wasn't until then that he realized that he was still holding on to the bag. He found himself gazing at it strongly. There was something attracting about it. No no no, it wasn't _the bag, _it was what was _inside_ the bag. But just what was inside? _"Mordecai...Mordecai..." _He could hear it, something, calling to him...

"...Mordecai ...Mordecai!" It took Mordecai a minute to snap out of it and notice his friend trying to get his attention. "Dude, are you alright?" Rigby asked concerningly.

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine. A little shaken, but I'm fine." Mordecai said, but he didn't seem to believe it himself. Rigby on the other hand was content with the answer.

"Dude, what's with the bag?" Rigby asked.

"I-I'm not sure, I found it in the lake, i guess..." This just confused Rigby even more. He curiously tried to reach out for the bag. Mordecai spotted this and yanked the book out of Rigby's reach. "Finder's keepers!" Mordecai said with a smirk. What just happened left both of them shaken, he had to at least _try _to lighten the mood up.

"Hey, I saved your life!" Rigby said pointing his finger at Mordecai.

"You said 'Forget it, like it never happened'" Mordecai slyly replied, the biggest grin on his face.

"UGGGGHHHH, so- wait, how did you even... Nope! You know what? I'm seen too many crazy stuff at this park, I'm just not even gonna ask," Rigby said as he headed the other direction, "Now come on man, help me clean the boats"

Rigby was already running ahead. "Yeah I'll be there in a minute!" Mordecai called back. He took one last inspection of the bag. Simon... It said "_This bag is property of Simon Petrikov. If found please return to..." _The last part of the inscription was faded away. But how did it get to the bottom of the lake? And who was this Simon?

Mordecai opened it and looked inside: it was completely dry. But how was that even possible, it was at the bottom of a freaking lake?

All there was inside was a crown, a book, and a couple VHS tapes...

**:: Before I get any hate, I will explain Simon's book-bag and the crown, just give the story time, all will be explained in due time::**


	3. First Encounter

Mordecai was more nervous than ever now. It was his one year anniversary with Margaret so far. He was at the restaurant with Margaret and Rigby at a table on the other end of the room with Eileen. Things were going good so far, Margaret was having fun. Mordecai seemed fine on the outside, but he was skitsophranic on the inside: a million questions running through his head. He was sweating, badly. Mordecai loosened his collar and turned to Rigby who gave him a thumbs up.

Only Rigby knew what was going to happen next. Rigby didn't exactly enjoy sitting with Eileen, but he reluctantly agreed to bear through it for his pal. He knew Mordecai would be too chicken without emotional support.

Mordecai got up and rushed to the bathroom. Rigby fearing for his friend followed suit. Mordecai was washing his face "I can't do it man! What if she says no? What if I do something embarrassing?"

Rigby slapped him hard him hard across the face, "Snap out of it man! Now you are going to go in there and you are going to do what you came here to do!"

* * *

Mordecai walked up to Margaret, his hand shaking. "Mordecai, is everything okay?"

"Margaret, we've been dating for a whole year now, and it has been the greatest year of my life. I love you so much, even before we started dating," Mordecai got on one knee, Margaret gasped, and Rigby got the camera ready. "Will you make the happiest man on earth?" Mordecai said as he pulled out a ring.

"Oh my God, Yes dude! Yes!" Margaret said as she hugged Mordecai, tears streaming down her face. Everyone in the restaurant, even though they did not know the happy couple, cheered and celebrated.

It was the happiest moment of Mordecai's life.

* * *

Later that night, the events at the restaurant finally had to come to an end. Rigby and Eileen went home a separate way, so Mordecai drove Margaret home.

"Well here we are..." Mordecai said as he put the car into park outside of Margaret's apartment. He turned his head as Margaret immediately pressed her beak to his. Mordecai's heart began to race, he hadn't been this nervous yet excited since their first kiss.

"I love you Mordecai" Margaret said as she hugged her soon to be life-long partner.

"I love you too Margaret" Mordecai replied back. This was it for him. This was what he had always wanted for the past 3 years: Margaret's undying love. And now that he had it, it couldn't help to ask for a little more...

As Margaret began to get out of the car, Mordecai said, "Wait! Let me walk you to your apartment." Mordecai got out and ran over to his love. He swiped the keys off of her and proceeded to open the door. "After you, your highness" comically said Mordecai as he bowed while Margaret walked through the door.

Margaret chuckled at this chivalry as she replied, "Ah, a real knight in shining armor. What's next are you going to swipe me off my feet?"

"You know that actually gives me an idea" said Margaret's new fiance before he quickly lifted her up at her waist and threw her over his shoulder. Margaret playfully struggled, but it was no use. Mordecai plopped Margaret down on her couch, but she pulled him down on top of her.

They both broke out into a fit of laughter. "Don't you have somewhere to go?" Margaret managed to say in between fits of laughter.

"Benson said he could give me the day off tomorrow" Mordecai replied still smiling. Soon the laughter died down and the couple was left locking eyes with one another. The tension was heavy in the air. They both knew what was going to happen next. That night was filled with passion, desire, and lust...

* * *

The following night, there was a great party to celebrate the new soon-to-be couple. Everyone from the park was there; Muscle-Man, High-5 Ghost, Skips, Benson, Pops, and even Thomas. Rigby and Eileen were also in attendance. They didn't throw it anywhere special, it was just in the house living room. But it was, in everyone's opinion, a better party than any other thrown at the park, especially better than Party Pete's.

This was THE party. It had everything! It had Rigby with his mountain of pizzas, Muscle Man freestyling it shirtless like the maniac he is, and even Thomas crushing everyone at limbo! Whoulda' thought? It was anything special, but to Mordecai and Margaret, it was special enough.

The party dragged on for some time though and gradually its participants wore down. Benson went to office to finish last minute reports, Pops went to bed, and everyone else gradually left. Eventually only Rigby, Eileen, Mordecai, and Margaret were left. Mordecai and Margaret were sitting over by the couch making out. Feeling the awkwardness in the air, Rigby retreated to the kitchen to get another soda. "That was some party, huh?" Eileen said to Rigby, startling him for a moment. He hadn't expected her to follow him.

"Oh, yeah. Sure, i guess" Rigby replied unenthusiastically. "Why does she have to annoy me all the time?" Rigby thought to himself. It was true that she was starting to get pretty cool a few months ago. In fact, she was a cooler person than Rigby had thought. He felt _something_ for her at least. But now... now she was just being annoying. She was always up on his grill and she always tried to get closer to Rigby every time they were in the same place. Eileen on the other hand, had been wondering why Rigby was rejecting her. I mean they were good friends before and he knows she likes him, so why hasn't he been feeling the same way? Now Eileen was just trying to get closer to at least get Rigby to notice something, _anything_ about her.

"It's crazy, huh? Our best friends... getting married... taking _the next step_" Eileen said to Rigby.

"Sure I guess" was Rigby's response as he shrugged and walked in the other direction. Clearly ever hint she was throwing at him went right over his head.

She knew she was losing Rigby's attention. At this point she was just desperate to keep the conversation alive. "Well, ha- have you been having a good ti-"

"WOAH DUDE!" Rigby exclaimed as he picked up the book bag Mordecai had found in the lake. He had just left it in the kitchen. Rigby was about to search its contents, but he thought it better to have Mordecai show everyone what HE had saved his life for (heavy emphasis on he "saving his life" part).

"What is it?" Eileen questioned. But it was no use. Rigby had already ran back into the living room, leaving Eileen standing alone in the kitchen. She sighed and followed after him.

* * *

"Dude, you still never showed me what was in this!" Rigby exclaimed as he slammed the heavy bag onto the coffee table. A loud bang erupted from this which startled both Mordecai and Margaret.

"What is that?" Eileen asked as she entered the room.

Rigby answered, beaming with pride, "Yeah, Mordecai, what did I save your life for?" with a smirk.

Mordecai got up and bumped Rigby out of the way, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say Rigby."

Rigby crossed his arms, "Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm"

"Any way, I found this bag of junk at the bottom of the lake."

"Oh, the excitement you guys have in your lives is unbearable" Margaret sarcastically teased. This erupted a nervous chuckle from Mordecai.

"Yeah, but I was looking inside earlier and I found this!" Mordecai said as pulled out the object in question. It was a three pointed gold crown with encrested rubies on it.

There was a unanimous murmur of "Woah"s coming from the other three.

"Dude, that's awesome! You could sell it and make like tons of money!" Rigby yelled excitedly.

"Haha, totally!" Mordecai agreed. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Mordecai and Rigby said in unison, much like they did before.

"_Put it on"_ What was that? Mordecai was now hearing voices. He wasn't sure where, but there's no doubt he heard them. "_Put it on Mordecai"_

Mordecai was still laughing with Rigby and the others over the find. And just like that, Mordecai lifted the crown and put it on his head...

* * *

Mordecai blinked his eyes open. He swore that all he did was blink an eye, it was that fast to him. But the crown is always unkind on its first visit. The first time it is put on, the subject will remember NOTHING of what happens. However, it is unable to block out the subjects mind each time after. This won't happen next time.

Mordecai looked around. There was snow all over the living room floor, the couch was torn in the middle. The crown had fallen onto the floor. The was a pounding in the side of Mordecai's face and into his chest. He turned to see Rigby holding a baseball bat in a position as if he had just swung. That wasn't all, Rigby was shaking, with a terrified look in his eye. Mordecai turned to see Eileen against the wall, almost cowering in fear. This activity had also alerted the others in the house as Benson and Pops stood on the stairs, stunned at what had occurred.

But that wasn't the worst part. Margaret was staring at her lover with a deep discontentment on her face. There was a cut on the side of her face and she looked as though she was at the point of tears. Even worse were her eyes. Her eyes stared at Mordecai, almost vividly seeming to say "You Monster."

"What happened?" Mordecai asked, now worried and as discomforted as the rest. No response. "What happened?!"

Margaret simply shook her head and walked out the door as tears began to fall from her eyes with Eileen behind her. "Margaret! Wait!"

Mordecai began to motion towards her, but Rigby grabbed his arm to stop him. "You do not want to make things any worse for yourself. Just let it go."

Mordecai was almost insulted by this. He yanked his arm free and proceeded forward. Once again, Rigby tried to stop him, but this time Mordecai punched Rigby right in the cheek, knocking Rigby to his knees. "MARGARET!" He screamed again.

Mordecai was on the porch but it was too late, Margaret had already driven off. "What happened!?" He asked again to the three staring at him.

Rigby could taste the blood in his mouth as he coldly replied, "You don't even want to know."

Mordecai was in a fret. His fiance, the love of his life, gone... just like that... He was light headed, he saw his world spinning. He retreated up to his room and locked the door to cry himself sick and comtemplate what had happened.

Rigby was about to follow but Benson stopped him. "Let him be alone for now." Benson said to Rigby. He went over to pick up the crown. His attitude was not the same as usual. Normally, Benson would be furious at the destruction of what just took place, but he understood the situation. Benson picked up the crown, "I'm going to show this to Skips tomorrow. If there's anyone who knows what to make of this, it's him." He looked around. "*sigh* Rigby, clean up this mess, you know... or you're fired..." Benson walked out.

Rigby was all alone in the living room now, still in shock. He took a minute to gather everything that happened in. "_Rigby..." _

"Who said that?" was Rigby's response. There was no one else in the room, and he knew he heard something. "It's okay, just in your head. Just get back to work" Rigby thought to himself. But something caught the corner of his eye for a second. It was the book bag, still in the corner.

Rigby walked over to it, not knowing what to expect from it. He knew this was a stupid idea, but you know what the say: Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case... the raccoon.

He opened it up and looked inside. He could not believe his eyes. Inside was the coolest book he's ever seen in his life! A sword on the cover with a skull in the middle. It looked old, very old.

Rigby read aloud "The Enchiridion, the Book of Dark Magic..."

**::Yes I know the Enchiridion in Adventure Time is the "Book of Heroes," but all will be explained...::**


	4. Hooked

Whatever this was, it looked awesome to Rigby. He had to check it out. Mordecai was no where near-by, he won't miss it.

Since Mordecai was probably balling his eyes out in their room, Rigby decided the kitchen was the best spot. Rigby sat down and opened the to the first page, however, the pages themselves began to turn. He could feel an icy wind blow through the room, and what sounded like a faint whisper faintly calling his name. The pages were flipping all on their own, cover to cover. This caught Rigby with terror for a short time, until he realized the window was open... "Relax Rigby, it's a lame old book" he re-assured himself as he shut the window.

He re-opened to the first page, no problems this time. It was completely blank, except for a single paragraph written in the middle of the page. He read quietly to himself, _"'Love, they say, is the strongest emotion. Yet man's primal instincts are the source of true power. That lust for anger and vengeance cannot be outmatched. Man is always at is strongest, not with love, or kindness, but from the beast within. Welcome Rigby..."_

If Rigby wasn't scared before, he was terrified now. "It knows my name, how the F does it know my name?!" He closed the book and threw it to the corner of the room. What on earth should he do? Read it? Show Skips? Leave it there? Or just get rid of it altogether? For ten whole minutes he sat there contemplating this. All the while just staring at the Enchirdion.

Eventually, Rigby's mind faltered and slowed. He eventually narrowed down what he was going to do. He heard something, maybe in his own head, but it was definitely something: _"What are you waiting for_, **_open it..."_**

Rigby knew what he was doing, how wrong this could lead. He was frantic, nervous, scared, excited, terrified, a million things running through his head at once. Knots in his stomach, a pounding on his head, all happening at once... And Rigby was enjoying it...

* * *

Page by page Rigby dived through the book. He didn't know why he had been afraid earlier. "'Magic' give me a break. Most chump book I've ever read!" Rigby claimed. What "spells" the book did have had the stupidest names believable with (according to Rigby) chump drawings to go alongside. "I could make a better book in my sleep!" Cover- to cover, Rigby blew threw it in less than an hour, ironically one of the only books he actually read that year. But something seemed to still be attracting him to the book.

He hardly believed this book was anything special... but then again... after all the supernatural encounters he's had over the years at the park, and what just happened to Mordecai... Deep down he knew this was legit, the real deal, he just didn't want to admit it.

"Okay, just one spell. That's it, just one. Then I'll give this to Skips." He quickly flipped through the book. "Come on, give me a good one." There! The name was hard to pronounce, but the illustration looked cool. Fire from your hands? What could be cooler?!

It took a minute for Rigby to finally pronounce the name: "'Ig-Ignaaaa-Ignem Damnatorem" ...Nothing happened... "Ignem Damnatorem" ... Rigby was getting frustrated now... "_Ignem Damnatorem!" _Maybe there was something he was doing wrong. It IS supposed to come from his hands, and so far he was standing still. He cleared his head, concentrated, flicked his wrist downward as he said "Ignem Damnatorem."

A sudden woosh of a type of green like fire appeared from the palm of his hand. It wasn't hot, it was almost cool to Rigby's touch. "This is awesome!" Rigby yelled. Indeed it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen... until it started growing... It grew without control, the flame was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, absorbing his whole hand. "NOT AWESOME!" He tried shaking it off, no use. He was panicking now, "GET OFF OF ME!" He flicked his arm downward, almost like throwing a baseball, and the fire ball flew from his hand.

"Oh shit!" Too late, the fire ball slammed against the wall, making a small _poof_ of fire. It was enough though to catch the wall on fire. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Rigby was frantically saying to himself as he went for the fire extinguisher. As quickly as he could, he put the fire out, but the fire alarm still went off. "Goddammit!" he screamed as he quickly turned the alarm off.

"RIGBY!" Benson screamed from another room. Benson didn't even have to see what happened to know who caused it. He was already on edge from before, but now...

Rigby was frantic. He couldn't let them find the book. He threw the book into the first cupboard he could find. "Come on Rigby, make up a story, a scene, and excuse. You're good at this..." he muttered to himself. He got some random cooking equipment out and threw it on the counter. By the time he turned around Benson was already at the door, his face blood red, with Pops behind him.

* * *

"WHAT DID YOU DO? LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO THE WALL! THERE'S A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN CLEAN THE LIVING ROOM!" Benson screamed at Rigby.

Almost too nervous to answer, Rigby replied, "I was hungry, so I-I-I was making a quick snack"

"At the oven... 10 feet away from the burn spot..." Benson remarked

Rigby couldn't argue so he just timidly shrugged it off.

"Rigby, I can't Believe you sometimes!" Rigby was wincing his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. "RIGBY, YOU'RE FI-"

"Benson!" Pops finally intervened, "Rigby has been improving over the past year. It was an honest mistake... wasn't it Rigby?" Pops said as he glared at Rigby. Even Pops was getting tired at times of covering Rigby's butt.

"Yeah, totally! It was an honest mistake! You can take it out of my pay-check if you want to."

Benson was now being opposed by both Rigby AND Pops now. Rigby he could care less for, but Pops in a way was HIS boss. He didn't want to make this any worse than it was. "*sigh* Alright, fine Rigby, apology accepted," he said defeatedly, "But you're fixing this wall AND cleaning the other room, TONIGHT!"

"Ah, what?! But it's like 11 at night!" Rigby complained.

"No buts! There's plaster and paint in the basement, NOW GET TO WORK!" Benson yelled. "unbelievable..." he muttered as Pops and he walked out of the room.

Rigby was spared, THIS time. He went back to the cupboard and picked up the Enchiridion. "What ever this is, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before," Rigby thought to himself. It's magical, it's possessed, it's whatever you want to call it. It is NOT safe. But he didn't care... He almost got a kind of excitement out of it. The thrill and the adrenaline of that much power was unlike anything he ever felt before in his life.

"... I need to try this again..."


	5. Not Leaving so Easily

At one in the morning, Rigby had finally finished cleaning up. He shuffled up to his room, the bags under his eyes having bags of their own.

He opened the door to find Mordecai sitting up in his bed, still awake. There were still tears on Mordecai's face. Mordecai was his bro, he had to make sure he was okay.

Rigby placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. He wasn't usually good at cheering people up, but he at least had to try. "Look, I know it sucks... but-"

Mordecai immediately got up and hugged his friend. He just needed somebody, _anybody, _to be there for him. Mordecai was still crying though.

Rigby was taken back at first by this, but he eventually hugged his friend back. It was awkward to Rigby, but he didn't even say a word. He was there for his bro, no matter what.

They had always been and planned on always being bros for life...

* * *

"Where is it!?"

"Where's what?" Benson asked, startled. Mordecai had taken Benson by surprise. It was still early in the morning and Benson had just walked into his office. Benson could see that Mordecai's eyes were bloodshot. It looked as though he hadn't got a second of sleep last night, which in fact was the truth.

Mordecai was mad at everything. Mad at Margaret, mad at himself, but especially mad at the crown.

"The crown. Where is it?" Mordecai almost yelled.

"Oh no," Benson said, "You're not getting it back! I'm giving it to Skips first thing when he gets here!"

"I'm getting rid of it goddammit!" Mordecai said, with an extremely angered tone. Mordecai was on edge, his hands were clenched into fists, and he looked ready to kill.

Benson saw every bit of this, and retrieved the crown from under his desk and surrendered it to Mordecai. Mordecai grabbed the god-forsaken item and stormed out of the house. Benson could hear the tires screeching as Mordecai drove off in the cart.

He wasn't even angry at his employee for missing work. He knew Mordecai needed time and his space. But had he just made a mistake? Benson thought so. But then again, Mordecai was one of the more trustworthy of the park as opposed to Muscle Man or especially Rigby. He'll be alright, he always was... right?

* * *

Mordecai had driven for an hour or so. Far outside of the city, his destination was a cliff far out in the woods. It was 200 feet above the ground beneath it with a river 20 feet away from the base of the cliff. The tree-line stopped about 30 feet from the edge, which was also an over hang.

Mordecai remembered this place from when he and Rigby went camping once. This had to be the spot to do it.

He stepped out of the cart and grabbed the crown. He walked to the edge, each step feeling like a mile. He took a final look at the crown. It really was a beautiful thing, with a mirror reflection of Mordecai staring back at it. Inanimate objects can't show emotions, but this object seemed to have a pleading look on it.

Mordecai closed his eyes... reached his arm back... took a step forward... but he couldn't do it.

He retraced the motions and screamed as he attempted once again to throw the crown. Again, he couldn't do it.

Something seemed to be restricting him, making sure that he couldn't do it.

"Come on! COME ON!" Once again, he couldn't do it.

The thoughts of Margaret flooded back into his mind. It was hemorrhaging to think of, driving him to the point where it actually began to hurt.

He looked at the crown. If this thing made him forget last time... maybe it could grant him a small piece of peaceful bliss this time.

He took a deep breath... lifted up in the air... and placed it on his head.

The embrace of snow and ice was much warmer than he could possibly have imagined...

* * *

Mordecai arrived back at the house late at night, but with a much more lively mood. He snuck through the back door so no one could see what he was still carrying. He quickly ran to his room. Rigby was there in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Rigby was exhausted from having to double his work load for Mordecai, but he kept his big mouth shut as he heard his bro enter.

Rigby's back was turned to Mordecai, but just to make sure, Mordecai hid the crown behind his back.

"How are you feeling?" Rigby managed to half say as he still had toothpaste in his mouth.

"Uhh... better so far" Mordecai said as he began wondering around the room. He had to find a place to hide his treasure before his friend could see him. There! Mordecai quickly shoved the crown onto the top shelf of the closet and hid it behind some of the other boxes. Rigby had finished and turned around.

Rigby didn't really believe his friend. He was probably lying just to make him feel better. After the way he acted last night, he was still worried for him. "I'm serious, if something else is eating at you or there's anything you need to talk about-"

"I said I'm fine!" Mordecai said, annoyed by Rigby. "What is this an interrogation? I'm said I'm okay, just leave it at that! Jesus Christ..."

Rigby was shocked by Mordecai's sudden change of tone. What did he do wrong to get his friend upset? It wasn't really his fault, but it usually almost always was. He just accepted that the wrong doing was on his part here. "I-I'm sorry"

Mordecai realized what had just happened. He himself was taken back by his own anger. "Dude, no i-"

"No no, it was my fault. It's fine. Sorry..." Rigby said as he shuffled out of the room.

"Rigby-" but it was too late, Rigby had already shut the door and walked off. Goddammit, why did he get so mad? He's not normally like that, only when he has a legitimate reason to be pissed off at Rigby. But this wasn't him... it was the crown. "Okay, no more excuses. You are getting rid of that thing tomorrow." But does he want to?

* * *

There was an abrupt knock before Skips opened the door and stepped inside. "I heard about yesterday." Oh great, another unwanted piece of sympathy for Mordecai.

"Skips, everything is fine." Mordecai said in a frustrated voice.

Skips' tone changed. Mordecai was never this aggravated before, especially to Skips. "I need to know now: Did you get rid of it?"

"Yeah, totally" Mordecai broke into a sweat. "He's on to me..." he thought.

"I'm serious. If you're still in possession of it, tell me now!" Skips said more pressingly.

"Chill out, I threw it over the cliff in the woods, far away from here."

"Is that the truth?"

"...yeah" Moredcai replied nervously.

"IS that the truth?"

"YES. No one will ever find it again."

"I'm just making sure." A slight feeling of relief seemed to fall over Skips. Skips was hiding something. What it was, Mordecai did not know... for now. Skips began to leave the room, but stopped saying "You got rid of the book too?"

"What?" Mordecai was confused for a second.

"The book that was in the bag, did you get rid of it too?" asked Skips.

Mordecai's mind was fuzzy. "Did I? Why can't even remember?" Mordecai concluded that since he took the crown to get rid of it, he probably took the book too. "Yeah, I got rid of it too." Something caught him as strange though. Mordecai was the only one to have seen what was inside. "How did you know there was a book in there?"

"Oh, uhh, Rigby told me." Skips replied.

That answer seemed to make sense. He didn't think too much about it.

Mordecai was still sweating after Skips left. He had to calm himself down. He went over to the sink. He was shocked to find that he was starting to grow thin, white hairs on his face, making a faded, short beard. That wasn't normal for him. He took the time to shave it off before going to bed, exhausted and tired.

* * *

It was 11 o'clock when Rigby entered the room again. Mordecai was out cold. Rigby tip-toed over to his bed. Underneath the pile of stuff on his trampoline, was his new toy: The Enchiridion.

He slightly chuckled with glee as he walked out of the room. If he was going to take this magic stuff seriously, he had to practice...


	6. Practice Makes Perfect

Rigby had snuck out of the house with the book. It was very late, but Rigby didn't care. Nor did he care that his eyes were red from tiredness. The book was calling to him to be used and he felt the need to answer it.

Earlier that day, Rigby had made makeshift targets. They were potato sacks, grocery bags, what ever he could find, filled with hay and atop of a stick.

Rigby had taken these and the book to the other end of the park where nothing could bother him and no one would hear him. After he had set up his stray-filled opponents, Rigby re-read through the Enchiridion one last time, just to make sure he still knew what he was doing.

He lifted his arm, said the phrase, and flicked his wrist downward. _Woosh!_ The green fire ball returned into the palm of his hand. This time, Rigby was much more calm about the ordeal, concentrating on keeping the flame at a maintainable size.

He wound his arm back, stepped forward, and threw the fireball like a baseball. _Bullseye!_ The fireball ignited one of the targets into a pillar of green fire which slowly changed to orange and red.

Rigby was now laughing with satisfaction. "That was amazing!" he told himself, the biggest grin on his face.

Again, he followed through the steps as he set fire to another of the targets.

The third time, Rigby wanted to test something. He flicked his wrist downward again, but this time he didn't need to say the phrase. All he had to do was think about it and the fireball appeared.

Rigby beamed with pride at his new work.

He concluded to himself that he was the strongest in the park now; not in strength per say, but in ability. Finally, he knew what it felt like to no longer be weak. And he loved every second of it.

This was exactly what the Enchiridion was planning on. It kept encouraging Rigby on, creatin thoughts in him that the book made Rigby invisible. It wanted to be used, and Rigby followed through perfectly.

Rigby went back over to the book. There had to be other spells that would make him more advanced.

* * *

That night, he learned and successfully executed the following magical abilities (these names will be used for the rest of the storyline)

**Shielding/Shield Wall**- A thin, greenishly transparent shield that came from his hands. Can deflect anything from a punch, to a sword, to a bullet. This could be morphed into a wall or a bubble. However, the shield wall needs a "base" (something that the shield extends its magic from) For instance, Rigby's hand counts as the "base" for a shield he creates for himself. But he can also transfer the "base" to something else. He successfully managed to create a small bubble around a rock he found on the ground. Since the rock is not magical and cannot support it, the shield will eventually fade away over time. But the base must also be strong enough for the shield. You cannot have the base of a 300 ft shield bubble be a tiny pebble. Rigby tried this on the same pebble, but this time the pebble was violently ripped to pieces and the shield quickly faded away. If you are going to make a shield, the base has to be strong enough to support it, this includes Rigby himself.

**Flames**- Like the fireball, except comes continuously from Rigby's arms. (Basically a green flamethrower)

**Plasmid/Plasma**- (Not like real plasma). A blackish material that can be given any properties. It can be sharp and thin like a sword, it can be flimsy and soft, it can be hard like a rock. Like the Shielding, Rigby can put it on anything. For instance, he "glued" two rocks to each other. But like Shielding, this will also fade away, but much slower. **::I may not even mention the term at times. I may just say "Rigby made a sword" or something along those lines::**

* * *

It had been several hours that he was out there. By then he had been able to pull off ever move perfectly. Except now he was starting to ache. His arms, particularly his chest was hurting and, what felt like, burning. He looked down to see faint steam coming from his arm. Magic is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger you are, but use it too much and you tear it. Except the tear could happen to his entire body.

"I think that's enough for now..." Rigby said now more exhausted than ever.

It had been WAY too long he was out there. Now he was ready to go back to bed and get a good night's sleep...

"Ah Shit!" Rigby screamed in frustration. The sun was already starting to come up. He had stayed awake the entire night.

Great, just great.

But on the bright side, he thought he got a lot done. And the Enchiridion felt the exact same way...


	7. Trouble Ahead

"Sir, you're late." He met him halfway as the suited man walked down the hallway.

"Yes, yes I know. Have they started?"

"Everyone is waiting on you."

Armed guards as they walked up to the door. Not just armed, but armed to the teeth. Their M-16s and body armor made anyone nervous, even those that were allowed entry.

The suited man received the briefcase from his younger assistant as he walked towards the guards who tightened their grips on their weapons as he drew closer.

He held his I.D. out, put his eye to the scanner, and spoke into the microphone: "John Martin, Secretary of Defense."

The buzzer cleared, his Pentagon clearance ID was returned to him and he entered through the door.

He passed through three hallways until he arrived at the war room. He took a quick breath and opened the door.

He's been at this job for three years, but that didn't stop him from becoming nervous. As he entered, every member of the room quit their discussions and turned to him. He grew hot with embarrassment but he could not let that phase him.

He cleared his throat and announced, "Gentlemen, this issue is of top national security. I'd have to ask everyone who is not completely necessary to step out of the room."

The President nodded at this notion as he motioned for everyone to leave. All that remained besides the President and John were the Secretary of State, the Vice President, Secret Service Agents, and a select few military officials.

After everyone had filed out, John opened his briefcase and got started.

"Last night at 11:43 P.M. the country of Iran, against UN rules and restrictions, successfully stabilized a uranium core." He held out several images. "These were taken by our CIA operative in the compound. It is confirmed they are using it to build a nuclear bomb."

The pictures didn't lie: they showed several parts of what appeared to be a bomb in construction in a research compound. But the most important image was the uranium core, with a bright green glow behind several containment chambers.

It took a minute for the President to absorb this sensitive information in. "Have we contacted the British or the Israelis yet?"

"Not yet sir, you're the first to know of this."

There was another moment of silence. The Vice President said, "What are our options?"

John swallowed hard as he prepared to report what he knew. "We have four main options. First, bring this to the U.N. floor and hope they intervene. However, once this is brought to public light, the Iranians will make sure that this matter is covered up. Second, we have our CIA Agent attempt sabotage the building. But this could result in failure easily and we don't even know how effective he could be. Third, we send in a SEAL Team. This will come to international attention however."

The President asked, "What's the last option?"

"...We conduct a land, sea, and air invasion of Iran. The Israelis would most likely back us up on this."

The President was deeply troubled by this issue, "The Russians have already made a defensive pact with Iran! If we invade, it could lead to all-out war!"

John replied, "We know sir, that's why we have a last resort fifth alternative." The attendants in the room were now intently focused. "...We-... We launch a nuclear strike at Iran..."

At once the room was in an uproar. There were shouts, there were disagreements, and the most intense of debates broke out among the members. Everyone except for Secret Service was arguing. John was flushed with nervousness at everyone else's reactions.

The President stood up and shouted "ENOUGH!" Everyone else quietly sit down on this. He turned to John, "If we invade, the results will be disastrous, a world war may even break out..." he took a sigh, "and the U.N. sure as hell can't help... Alright. Have our operative conduct a sabotage operation. Do what ever is necessary to stop construction of any nuclear missile."

Everyone in the room found this option to be the best plan.

At the end of the meeting, everyone was leaving the room. John was about to join the others but the President stopped him. "I'm leaving this up to you Secretary Martin. If you fail, you may just spark a world war. I want you to remember that. And the Iranians won't be the only ones coming for you..."

John Martin swallowed and replied "Understood sir."

John was now alone in the war room. He almost fainted but luckily caught himself on the table. His breathing grew heavy and his head hurt like anything. It's not a fun time knowing you're responsible for the future fate of the world.

He simply said to himself, "God help us all..."


	8. First Date

Rigby was ready to collapse at any second. It had been a while since he had a night where he had no sleep.

It go to the point where Rigby was dozing off while mowing the lawn.

"Dude, you okay?" Mordecai asked.

This snapped Rigby out of his semi-trance. "Wha? Hu-? Oh, yeah... I just didn't get much sleep."

"You look like a trainwreck. I didn't see you even go to bed. What did you fall asleep last night?"

Rigby yawned as he replied, "I didn't..."

"Jeez..." Mordecai didn't want to say anything, but Rigby was prone to letting the small things get to him. "If had anything to do with last night..."

"What? Oh, no. It's just... I got... stuff."

The answer was very vague, but Mordecai just assumed Rigby knew what he was doing. "Okay dude, just don't let Benson catch you dozing off."

Near noon, Rigby was officially ready to just curl up and go to sleep where no one would see. "Just 5 minutes... no one will even notice..." Rigby thought as he took a break. He was going to take a power nap near the trees, but something stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey Rigby!" Eileen called as he she came closer to the raccoon.

This jolted Rigby to awareness for a moment. "Oh great. Can't she just leave me alone?"

"So, what's up?" Eileen asked.

"The sky." Rigby replied with an unenthusiastic tone.

Eileen nervously chuckled this response off. "Hey, are you alright? You look terrible."

"Yeah, it's called not sleeping." Rigby replied.

He was getting ruder with each minute. Eileen changed the subject: "How's Mordecai been since... you know...?"

Rigby took a minute to think on this. Not even he knew what was going on in his friend's head, and they sleep in the same room together. "I don't know... He's good old Mordecai one minute then Mordy McDouchebag the next."

Eileen said, "Yeah... So Rigby, I was thinking-"

Rigby cut her off, "Listen, it's been fun talking to you, but it's my lunch break now, so... yeah... bye." It was not difficult to see that Rigby was just trying to get her to leave him alone.

"Seriously Rigby? After all this trying, I'm still getting blown off?" Eileen thought to herself, "No, I am not taking no for an answer anymore."

Rigby was walking away when Eileen jutted in front of his path. Her tone changed to one of determination. "You know what Rigby? You're going on a date with me. Right now."

Rigby was caught off guard by this. "What?!" was his response.

"You are going to spend your lunch break with me at the arcade."

Rigby simply shoved her to the side as kept on walking, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Eileen called to him, "Come on Rigby. I'll pay!" This stopped Rigby for a moment. "I'll pay for lunch AND I'll get you a coffee." Rigby turned around to face Eileen. She said, "Look, I know you think I'm annoying and weird and that you don't like me. But just one date, please."

Rigby thought about it before asking, "Just one date?"

"And I'll never bug you again."

Rigby took his time to think about it. This was a tempting offer. In the end he figured he didn't have anything to lose. "Fine. One date. But only for an hour, that's when my lunch break ends."

Eileen was giddy with joy. "Hey Benson, I'm going on my lunch break" Rigby screamed into the distance as they got into Eileen's car outside the park.

* * *

"Hey, uh, Benson. I'm taking the cart out for my lunch break." Mordecai said to his boss.

"Fine, just make sure you're back here on time." Benson replied.

Mordecai got into the cart, but had to stop by the house for something first. He wasn't really going out for lunch. He had other matters to settle.

He grabbed the Crown from his closet and drove off.

He arrived at the same place as last time, the cliff in the woods. "Okay Mordecai, no excuses," he re-assured himself, "Just toss the damn thing over the cliff."

There were still remnants of snow and ice from before. Mordecai picked up the crown, but his attitude towards it changed. He no longer felt anger or disgust.

"... 10 minutes..." Mordecai put on the Crown, and fell into an icy bliss.

* * *

GAME OVER, PLAYER 2 WINS

"Ughhhh! Must be rigged or something!" Rigby complained.

"Admit it, I'm better than this than you" Eileen smirked. It was the 5th time in a row she beat him at Super Street Boxer 2.

"Pffttt, no big deal" Rigby remarked as he crossed his arms. He took another sip of his coffee as they walked to the other games. Thanks to the caffeine, Rigby was wide awake now. Granted it was a nice thing she was doing, but Rigby still didn't like her. He didn't like her in the least bit... did he?

"I've beaten you at every game so far" Eileen victoriously remarked.

"If that's how you want to play it, fine." Rigby thought to himself. He walked around for any game where he knew he would beat her.

"Ten bucks says I beat you at the next game." Rigby said, no desperate for a win.

Eileen smiled and agreed to the bet.

Rigby led her over to one of the shooting games they had there.

"These games are the biggest jokes." Eileen said.

"What, you're scared?"

Eileen crossed her arms, smiled, and said "Alright, You're on! First to die loses."

The quarters were inserted and they both pressed start.

It had been a while since Rigby held anything like a firearm. Granted, he was holding just a piece of plastic, but he still retained his old skills.

Eileen didn't stand a chance, Rigby destroyed her at the game. Every enemy on screen was instantly wiped out. Eileen lost in three minutes, but Rigby still kept playing. He made it to ten minutes in before he finally beat the game itself. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rigby screamed as he stood triumphantly.

"Okay, okay, I'll admit that was pretty good." Eileen said, overall impressed.

"Gimme my ten bucks!"

Eileen thought of a way around this, "How about I get you ten bucks in a different way..."

* * *

Rigby was satisfied with his payment. Together they got a booth at Cheeser's. Rigby, trying to pay his ten bucks out to the fullest, got the deluxe supreme.

"So how did you do that?" Eileen asked curiously.

"Do what?" Rigby said as his mouth was full of food.

"That was the best I've ever seen anyone at a shooter game."

"Oh, that. I used to go shooting with Don and my dad when I was younger," Rigby explained, "I haven't gone shooting in a while though, but I g- ... OH SHIT!" Rigby yelled.

"What? What's wrong?"

It was 2 O'clock, a full hour later than when he should have been back. They both realized this and quickly ran back into Eileen's car.

* * *

They quickly drove up to the park. As Rigby was getting out, Eileen said to him, "That was fun. We'll have to do that again sometime." Rigby smiled at this and nodded his head in agreement.

"Jeez, what are you doing Rigby? You don't even like her." He was now questioning himself. Did he like her? No, no of course not. Or maybe he did?

"RIGBY!" Benson yelled as he saw his employee. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry Benson, I was... hanging out...with Eileen" He knew this really was a poor excuse.

"Do you even realize that you're an hour late?!"

"I'm sorry Benson, It won't happen again." Rigby said coweringly.

Benson sighed and said, "Get back to work, if you're late again: You're fired!"

Benson walked away and Rigby emitted a sigh of relief.

Muscle Man and High Five Ghost walked toward him laughing.

"What are you laughing about?" Rigby asked.

"Dude, you totally dig that nerd chick!" Muscle Man said pointing his finger.

"Shut up, I don't like her" Rigby replied, but his face said differently. He started to blush.

"Don't lie! I'm a master at these things!" Muscle Man rebutted.

"So when you're going to-" High Five Ghost playfully elbowed Rigby, "Make your move?" The two were laughing hysterically but Rigby's face only got redder.

"STOP TALKING! I don't like her! And besides, even if I did I wouldn't even know how to 'make my move.'"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. Have you ever even dated a chick before?" Muscle Man asked. Rigby shook his head no.

"So you've never even..." High Five Ghost said. Again, Rigby shook his head no.

The duo were left open mouthed. Rigby just felt embarrassed. "Dude, don't even worry. I got you covered."

Muscle Man led Rigby back to his trailer where Muscle Man retrieved a pack of papers. He handed the pages to Rigby and said "BAM! The solution to your problem!"

Rigby read the cover out loud, "Mind Games, by Jay T Dawgzone?"

"Yeah man! It's how to get all the ladies you want!" Muscle Man said.

"Why the name change?" Rigby asked.

"I just want the money, I don't want to be drenched like 24/7 with adoring women. I'm gonna find some nub to publish it for me!" Muscle Man bragged.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen..."

"Hey, I've been going out with Starla longer than you've been working here, so I don't want to hear it! You didn't even read it you buttface!" Muscle Man yelled.

"Fine!" Rigby groaned. Rigby flipped to a random point in the packet: _Always lead the women on. If you tell them you like them, they'll lose interest. But if you keep leading them on, they're desire for you will be..._

At this point Rigby closed and tossed it back to Muscle Man. "No thanks, I think I can do better on my own."

Muscle Man got angry at this response. "You don't even know anything about chicks!"

Rigby walked away, saying, "Only a moron would actually read that crap..." Ironically, in a thousand years Finn would take every page of it seriously.

* * *

Later that night, the book once again called to Rigby to be used. He didn't have any practice dummies, but he didn't mind.

He was getting better, alarmingly so. It didn't hurt to use magic anymore. Rigby didn't want to put the book down, he felt himself getting stronger each day.

This was Rigby's new routine. Every night was spent in a corner of the park, harnessing the power of the Enchiridion.

**::Yes, it seems like its taking a while, but I need to develop everything for the war.::**


	9. No Going Back

Mordecai woke up drenched in sweat. He knew he just had a nightmare, but for the life of him he couldn't remember it. He's been getting them more and more recently. And each one he can't remember.

Mordecai wasn't going to go back to bed unless he wanted to have another nightmare. It was 5:30, Rigby was still asleep on his trampoline. Mordecai decided to just get ready for the day.

When he went to the bathroom, he discovered something odd. He was growing white hair around his beak, forming a short beard. He was about to shave it when a voice in his head told him: "_No no Simon, It looks good on you."_

"What the hell?! Whose Simon?" Mordecai thought to himself. "Mordy, you're just tired and exhausted. It's just your mind messing with you, don't worry about it." Mordecai reassured himself.

The Crown was getting to him, and it did not want to let go. It wanted to see if Mordecai was better than the others...

* * *

Rigby was running in the darkness. His breath was visible and all around was pitch black. He couldn't stop running. What he was trying to escape from he did not know. He just kept running. Just like that, a massive explosion went off in his path. Rigby was lifted from his feet, he could feel the heat wave hit his body. He screamed from the intense pain.

Rigby woke up in a sweat. He looked around to make sure this was real life and not some other sick dream. He could hear Mordecai in the shower. He rubbed the sand out of his eyes and started to get up. Something caught his eye. He thought he could see something shiny on the top shelf of the closet. It was gold looking.

As Rigby went towards the closet, Mordecai opened the door. "Hey Rigby"

Rigby stopped in his path, "Hey Mordecai. Dude, you're starting to grow a beard." Rigby said.

"...And...?"

"Uh, nothing man. It, uh, it looks good." Rigby lied. To tell the truth, he looked like a bum. But he couldn't tell his friend that.

Mordecai just stared at his friend with a blank gaze for a moment. Then started to head out the door.

He's been like this for the past few days. Mordecai hardly spoke to anyone anymore. Rigby stopped him, "Dude, don't." Rigby said, "Don't just shut everything out! If what happened with Margaret is still getting to you, then talk to her. It wasn't your fault. Maybe it'll work, but you can't just sit around all depressed and shit for the rest of your life!"

Mordecai took this in. "Thanks Rigby." He said before he left.

* * *

At breakfast, Rigby felt awful. His chest was aching and he was coughing non-stop.

"Rigby, is everything okay?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah I think so," Rigby meekly said. "I just don't feel good, that's all." However, his insides felt like they were on fire.

Rigby went back to his room. When he walked in the door, he felt a million times better. Nothing was hurting anymore. "Now why the hell is-... unless..." Rigby knew what made him better. It was the Enchiridion. He was now at a point where he couldn't leave the book, even for a moment.

He needed it if he didn't want to feel like shit again. But he couldn't just go walking around with it. There was an old 1-strap bag that they had laying in the closet (The kind Desmond Miles has from AC3). Rigby put the book in, slung it over his back, and went on his way.

* * *

***Knock Knock Knock***

"Just a minute!" Margaret called from inside her apartment. Mordecai was nervously tapping his foot on the ground.

Margaret opened the door and her expression quickly changed to that of a disappointing frown. She started to close the door but Mordecai stopped her. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Whatever I did that night, I am so sorry! But that was not my fault."

Margaret started to close the door again, but this time Mordecai held it open as he stepped into her apartment. "It was all that Crown that night. I swear I never meant to do anything to you! You know that! I, I still love."

Margaret still liked Mordecai, even after what had happened. "Just tell me one thing..." Margaret said

"What? Anything!" Mordecai quickly responded.

"Did you get rid of that crown?"

"I threw it over a cliff the morning after!" Mordecai assured her.

Margaret's face changed to one of relief. She hugged her lover. "I'm sorry I over-reacted. I guess it was a little unfair for you. It wasn't your fault, I just-"

"Shhhhhhh" Mordecai interrupted. He leaned in and touched her beak with his. Their arms tightened around each other as they kissed.

"Oh Mordecai," Margaret said in between kisses. Mordecai backed her up against the wall as she tightened her arms around his back.

"Oh Betty," Mordecai muttered. Margaret's eyes opened.

Margaret tried to push Mordecai away, but Mordecai was the stronger one. In response he began to kiss her more ferociously.

"Mordecai stop-" Mordecai's kiss interrupted her words. She was trying to push him back but he would not let up.

Margaret used all of her strength to push Mordecai away a few inches. With this opportunity, she slapped him hard across the face.

This snapped him back, "Margaret, I'm sorry-"

"Betty. That's what you called me that night!" Margaret said. She was shaking her head, "You still have it don't you?!"

Mordecai swallowed hard as he tried to speak. Margaret cut him off, "Do you still have it?!"

Mordecai began to explain himself, "Margaret, listen, I di-"

Margaret wasn't going to have any of it. "Get the hell out here Mordecai!" Tears were streaming down her face.

Mordecai stumbled as he left the apartment. He turned to say something but Margaret slammed the door as he left.

Margaret was left crying against the door. "Why did it have to be like this?" she said to herself. She looked down and placed her hand on her stomach...

* * *

Rigby felt odd knowing _It _was on his back. He just tried to ignore it and go about as normal.

He was raking the leaves when Eileen decided to pay a visit. "Hey Rigby!" Eileen called as she walked closer.

_"You don't like her. You know it" _It's voice called into his head.

Rigby just tried to ignore it. "Oh, hey Eileen."

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go see a movie tonight?" Eileen asked.

_"Quit lying to yourself, you're only going hurt yourself AND her."_

"Uh-, sure. Tonight sounds good. What movie did you want to see?"

From afar, Muscle Man saw the two talking. He wanted a little revenge for what Rigby said a few days ago. High Five Ghost was thinking the same thing as he handed Muscle Man a football. "Heads up Rigbaby," Muscle Man muttered to himself. He aimed for the back of Rigby's head and threw as hard as he could.

Rigby felt something odd. His arms and his hands started to feel...funny... Time slowed down for him. He had blocked out everything Eileen said as he heard his own heart beating. His tail was starting to tingle, as well as his chest and head.

Without even thinking, Rigby turned around and caught the football in his hands in the nick of time.

Everyone, including Rigby, was left open-mouthed. Rigby could hardly believe what just happened. He looked up to see the culprits. He got angry as he wound up the football in his arm and threw it towards Muscle Man.

It sailed until it hit Muscle Man square in the chest. He almost toppled over.

Rigby turned back to Eileen who was still open-mouthed. He awkwardly chuckled it off as he apologized. "So, uh, see you at 7...?"

* * *

Mordecai needed to know what the hell was going on with him. He suddenly remembered seeing VHS tapes in the bookbag when he had it. Skips had the bag though.

He waited until Skips wasn't there. Mordecai then snuck into his shed, took the bookbag, and ran back to the house. He took the TV and the VHS player into his room and set everything up.

He opened the back and searched through. There were 4 tapes in total. He decided to watch them all in case there was anything he missed. One of them was bound to have SOMETHING.

Each tape was labeled with a date written on a piece of tape.

Mordecai took the earliest tape and stuck it into the player...

* * *

**::Please leave a review and tell me what you think so far::**


	10. The Tapes

**Tape 1**

The screen flashed black and white static before forming a clearer picture. The date in the corner said the year was 1982.

Wherever this took place, it was extremely dark. Suddenly a door opened and a young woman could be seen walking through it.

The lights turned on revealing a huge crowd of people. "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETTY!"

The woman was now surprised and excited. She had pinkish skin and rosy red hair and wore a small pair of glasses. A man walked up to her. He looked to be in about his mid-30s with glasses and had (for a guy) long brown hair. She said to him in excitement, "Simon, did you plan all this yourself?"

He grabbed her in his arms, "Only the best for you my princess, you only get to be 32 once." At this he leaned in and kissed her. The group of people cheered.

They paused for a second as she said, "I think they want an encore," as she kissed him this time. Now the crowd began to playfully boo the couple. One person from the background said, "Knock that crap off and let's get this party started!"

* * *

Mordecai fast-forwarded. He felt... dirty... looking through these tapes. These were private to someone. But yet, he almost seemed to remember them. For some reason he felt like he had been there before. Deja Vu?

* * *

When he pressed play, Betty and Simon were the only two left at the party. They were slow dancing to some old music. "That was some party huh?" the man said.

"Yeah. I can't thank you enough for this Simon."

"Betty...?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise you'll always love me"

Betty quickly replied "I promise" before they began to kiss.

Mordecai fast forwarded again.

This time, the two were at a Ski slope. The dialogue was unrecognizable, but he could see Simon wearing a greenish-sweater and getting down on one knee in front of Betty and pulling a ring from his pocket. She hugged him before their picture was taken by someone off camera (If you re-watch the tapes from the Adventure Time episode, "Holly Jolly Secrets pt II," the picture is the same one in the background.)

* * *

Mordecai didn't think this tape had anything more useful. He ejected it and was about to put in the second when Rigby walked in the room.

"Hey Mordecai"

Mordecai became hot with embarrassment. Caught in the act. "Hey Rigby..."

"Dude, why'd you jack the TV?" Rigby asked as headed towards the bathroom.

"Uhhh... no reason, just going to watch a movie."

"What kind of movie?"

"It's, uh, it's boring. You wouldn't like it." Mordecai tried to convince him.

"Ughhh, whatever, I need to get ready anyways." Rigby said as he entered the bathroom.

Mordecai was a little surprised. "Wait: ready for what?"

"Goin' to the movies with Eileen" Rigby replied. Mordecai was shocked. "Before you say anything, we're just friends. I don't like her... at all..." At this Rigby shut the door and turned on the water in the shower. It wasn't until halfway through that Rigby realized he was still holding the Enchiridion IN the shower. It was starting to get out of hand. But what else could he do? He couldn't escape it.

With Rigby in the shower, Mordecai thought it safe to put in the next tape. Mordecai didn't notice Rigby's new bag, nor did he care to notice. He put in the next tape and pressed play.

* * *

**Tape 2**

"Woah woah woah, Be careful down there!" Simon said to someone off screen. The camera was directly in front of him. He was fully dressed in heavy winter gear. Behind him was a view of very large mountains and it was snowing hard. The year was still the same.

He turned back to the camera. "Day 13 of our expedition to find ancient Nordic artifacts. So far, our finds have been little. I lost my previous tape yesterday. The rest of our team is starting feel restless. If we don't find anything soon, we may have to turn back... Betty, if you're out there, I hope I can make it home soon."

The screen went to static as it faded to a point later that day (according to the date in the corner). Simon was walking with about three others alongside the mountain. Simon was holding the camera as he walked. "Steady now. Careful, it may get a little narrow up ahead."

"How do we even know if this tomb is out here?" a member of the group yelled.

"Trust me I know it's out here." Simon put his arm on the mountain to rest. All of a sudden, the rocks started to crack with his body weight.

"Simon watch out!" someone yelled. But it was too late, the wall broke open and Simon fell through. The camera was spinning before it turned to black.

Simon's breathing could be heard, but the picture was still dark. "You alright down there?" could be heard from the distance.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Maybe a little bruised, but I'll be good." Simon replied. He turned on a flashlight. From what could be gathered by the light, he was in a large, grand hall with statues carved along the walls. "I FOUND IT! Come down here, but be careful!"

As Simon walked further into the hall, the camera started flickering. It was starting the flicker between static then back to the picture. Large amounts of skeletons could be seen all facing the same direction.

Simon's breath grew quicker as he walked further down the hall. At the end was a pedestal. A bony hand was resting on something, covering it up. The camera was now worse than before. As Simon lifted the hand, a quick glance could be seen of a book. A loud humming was now coming from the TV. When Simon got a closer look at it, the title read "The Enchiridion" before the screen went to static.

* * *

"That's the book that was in the bag when I got it" Mordecai thought to himself. He was getting more nervous as he continued watching.

The screen came back to normal. Simon was at a table with the rest of the expedition members. They seemed to be in an Inn or a bar of some sort. Mordecai noticed that there were originally four other members, but he could only see three.

"Are you sure, this can work?" one of them asked Simon.

"Yes, I have no doubt in my mind. All we need is to find the last three and then we'll have it!" Simon said as he held the book on the table. It was slightly out of view of the camera.

"I thought you didn't really believe in this stuff in the first place!"

Simon replied, "As an archaeologist of ancient artifacts, it is my duty to uncover the unknown. And this case is no exception."

"What will happen when we find the last three?"

Simon replied, "Well according to ancient legend, we will open the doorway to time and space. Whether this works or not, I plan to find out."

"... Will it be worth what happened to..."

The group was silent for a moment. Simon broke the silence, "His loss won't be forgotten."

* * *

"Pfffft, that's lame as hell!" Mordecai jumped as he turned around. Rigby had startled him. "What a chump movie!"

"Dude, get out of here!" Mordecai could feel himself starting to get angry again. No, he had to prevent himself. He couldn't afford to keep getting angry. He changed his mood and playfully said, "Don't you have to be on your daaaaattteeee?"

"SHUT UP IT'S NOT A DATE!" Rigby said as he began to walk out of the room. Mordecai chuckled at this response. Rigby then asked before leaving, "By the way, did you work things out with Margaret?" Mordecai's expression quickly changed from that of a playful grin to a pitiful frown. Rigby picked up his tone, "I'm sorry I asked." Rigby left.

He could hear Eileen's car outside pull up to the house, the door open and close and then it drove off.

* * *

Mordecai looked back at the TV.

One of the group members was holding a revolver at his waist. It was pointing to whatever was behind the camera. "Now stay back, you hear!" The man's eyes were bloodshot and his hands were shaking. In the other hand, he was holding a gold object with three rubies on it. Mordecai knew this was the crown he had.  


"Now, listen just take it easy! Just put down the gun" Simon said off camera.

"Don't you see Simon? This thing has shown me everything! It has saved me!" His voice was waving and he was frantic.

Simon started to walk toward the man. In response, he raised the gun to eye level. "STAY BACK! I'll do you like the others!"

The gun was shaking intensely. He was in a panic now. He looked down on the crown, looked up and said "God forgive me." He put the gun under his own chin.

"Mathew, wait!" Simon yelled.

The trigger was pulled and the film ended then and there.

Mordecai was shaking now. He couldn't stop now, he had to keep watching. He needed to know why he was getting visions of this man; this Simon.

Mordecai popped out the tape, grabbed the third one, and put it in the player.

* * *

The third tape is the same tape from the Adventure Time episode, Holly Jolly Secrets pt II. If you haven't seen it or don't remember it, go to Youtube and search "Simon Petrikov's Tapes" it should be one of the first ones.

* * *

Mordecai was shaking the entire tape. "Is this what I'm becoming? No, no no no, there has to be a cure! There just has to be!" Mordecai thought to himself.

_"But you already know there isn't a cure, don't you Simon?"_

There was that damn voice again! Why the hell wouldn't it leave him alone?! "Maybe the last tape has the answers..." he concluded.

Mordecai took out the third tape and put in the final tape. He sat down and pressed play.

**::Leave a review on what you think so far::**


	11. Simon

**Tape 4**

The picture was as blurry as it could be. Simon could barely be seen, his skin blue and his beard long. He was frantically yelling: "I can't go on like this! Betty, please come back to me! Just give me my princess back!"

The screen flickered, All that could be heard was "LEAVE ME ALONE! HAVEN'T YOU TAKEN AWAY ENOUGH FROM ME!?"

The TV began to hum. The screen showed Simon sitting in a chair, bloodshot eyes, the crown dangling from his hands. He sat there just staring at the camera. This kept going for 30 seconds.

The TV went black again. "Betty, I-... who?"

"WHO AM I ANYMORE?!"

Static again.

"I have seen what happens... I know what I will become..."

"I can't..."

"...No cure..."

The camera was now being held by Simon as he walked. Faint whispering was heard. From what little could be seen of Simon's apartment, everything was trashed. Random objects were on the ground, broken. The furniture was wrecked. The worst part of it was the snow. Ice and snow was blanketing the walls and the ground.

"_Forgive my Sins_" was written on one of the walls. A quick glance at a broken mirror showed Simon in complete calm, almost as if he was in a trance.

The screen flickered. It cut to the camera raised up higher than usual.

"Simon! Simon open the door!" A voice could be heard in the distance of Simon's apartment.

It was faint. But Mordecai recognized it: "Could that be? No... was that... Skips' voice?"

The whispering was getting louder. A soft steady hum was joining it. It was getting louder and louder. Mordecai tried to turn the TV volume down, but it wasn't getting quieter.

Then the camera leaned upwards. A rope could be seen. It connected down around Simon's neck. Mordecai was shaking as he watched.

Then the camera fell to the ground. The chair Simon was standing on was brought out from underneath. As it fell, Simon's dangling feet could be seen for a split second.

* * *

The VHS player shattered itself. The TV went black. Mordecai screamed as he backed up to the wall in shock. Tears were forming on his face, not the kind of sadness, but tears of fear.

This was the legacy of the Ice Crown... every victim it ever touched, gone by their own undoing. Mordecai grabbed his head, "No, no no no no, this can't be happening!"

If there was anyone who could help at this point, it was Skips. It had to be Skips. Mordecai picked up the bag and headed to Skips' shed.

* * *

Halfway to his destination, Mordecai ran into Skips. It turns out Skips was actually on his way to find Mordecai himself.

"Mordecai! Why did you take the bag?! You know it's dangerous!" Skips scolded to Mordecai.

"I watched the tapes... all of them..." Mordecai said. Skips was silent at this.

"You shouldn't be messing with things you don't understand!" Skips grabbed the bag, Mordecai willingly let go.

"Who was Simon?"

Skips was stopped by this question. Mordecai was dead serious in his question.

"...I don't know what you're talking about" Skips said as he began to leave.

"You knew who Simon was. What happened?"

Skips sighed before answering. "Simon used to be a park employee. He was a good friend of mine the years that he was here. But he always was investigating into the unknown. Every myth, every legend, every story he sought out. It was dangerous some of the stuff he was getting into. After he left, he still kept in touch with me: asking about things he had found or legends he heard of. He had found myths of a book that can link universes... I tried to warn him. I tried to tell him to let it go, that it would only end badly! He didn't listen... He didn't call me about the Crown he found until he was already too far gone. He lived in a remote town in Canada, it took me a week to get there, mostly because it was in the worst winter of its history. But it was a week too late..."

Skips let out a sorrowful sigh, "The Crown and the book can corrupt anyone. I couldn't keep them, but I still had to keep my eye on them. So I threw them in the lake where I intended them to stay."

Then he looked at Mordecai, "That's why I need to know if you still have the Crown. If you have it, tell me."

Mordecai lied, "I told you I got rid of it the morning after."

Skips grabbed Mordecai's arm. It was cold. Mordecai began to grow warm with guilt.

"Mordecai listen! This thing will destroy you! That is a guarantee!"

"Everything is fine!" Mordecai yelled as he yanked his arm out of Skips' grip. "There's nothing to worry about, you have my word."

Skips only slowly shook his head as he backed away. "I hope you're right Mordecai. I honestly do." He skipped away, leaving Mordecai alone.

Mordecai slowly headed back to the house. He had a lot to think about.

Mordecai said silently to himself, "Just take it easy. Everything's alright Simon, everything is fine..."


	12. I Don't Like Her

Rigby hoped into the passenger seat of Eileen's car. She seemed happy to finally go on an actual date with Rigby. He didn't feel the same way however.

"Hi Rigby!" Eileen said as Rigby hopped in.

"Hey. So, what movie are we seeing?"

The conversation on the way to the movies was mostly just filler. To be honest, Rigby forgot most of it as soon as they got to the theater.

At the theater, they got two tickets for Kidnapped 2 with Lian Nelson. Rigby didn't think she was really into the action kind of movies.

"So... I paid for the tickets..." Eileen said to Rigby.

"And...?" Rigby wasn't getting the hint that he should buy the popcorn.

"...nevermind..." Eileen bought the popcorn AND the drinks.

* * *

"_Listen, they're going to Kidnap you... I need you to stay calm..."_

Rigby had almost completely forgotten Eileen was sitting next to him as he lost himself in the movie. He was brought back to reality when Eileen lightly grabbed his hand that was on the arm rest between them.

Rigby quickly yanked his hand back. Eileen had a dissappointed look on her face. Rigby still didn't like her. Rigby caught a quick glance at her sad expression. He did feel a little guilty. Maybe he was being a little unfair to her. I mean after all, she was a nice girl and she didn't really deserve this.

Even though Rigby didn't enjoy it, he let his hand fall onto Eileen's. Eileen was surprised by this and turned to Rigby He was just watching the movie trying to ignore her. But to Eileen, it was something special. She turned back and smiled.

Rigby was starting to feel awkward. If he was going to hold hands, it was going to be much less awkward. Rigby moved his thumb to cover Eileen's thumb.

Eileen moved her thumb back over Rigby's only to have Rigby move it right back. A competitive smirk erupted on their faces.

They began a long, epic battle of Thumb Wars. It was a little awkward: having a thumb war with opposite hands. But neither of them wanted to surrendur and the fight continued. Neither of them looked at each other and the remained in silence. But competition was written all over their faces.

Rigby forgot half the movie as he was too focused on their little game.

In the end, it seemed that Eileen was the winner. Though Rigby didn't openly admit it, he was having fun.

* * *

Eileen drove Rigby home. The entire ride home, Rigby found himself glancing at Eileen when she wasn't looking. Like the ride to the movies, they didn't talk about anything particularly important. There were, however, a lot more jokes and laughs on this drive.

It wasn't until halfway home that Eileen broke the news. "Did you hear that Mordecai visited Margaret today?"

Rigby became more focused on the conversation then. "Yeah, I kind of encouraged him to do that." Rigby admitted.

"Did you hear what happened?" Eileen responded.

"No..."

"From what she told me, everything was going fine. But Mordecai called her 'Betty.' Then he started to kiss her after she told him to stop."

Rigby was shocked. Mordecai wasn't the kind of guy to act like this. "Did he... you know...?"

"No, she slapped the sense back into him. But Margaret's still shook up about it"

Rigby thought about it. Betty was what Mordecai said that night. "He couldn't have... no no. But then again, what was that in the closet?"

* * *

After this, the drive was mostly silent. Eileen felt a little guilty for making the moment awkward.

Eventually they pulled up to the house. "I had fun tonight Rigby." Eileen said as she stared affectionately towards Rigby.

"Yeah, I did too." which was the truth.

"I still won that war!" Eileen teased to Rigby.

"Pffft, in your dreams! Rematch next time and I'm gonna kick your ass!"

They both chuckled. Eventually the chuckling died down to an awkward silence. The moon was behind Eileen and the light made her almost look divine.

Rigby thought she actually looked beautiful. And on top of that, she was really a cool person to hang out with.

Eileen and Rigby both started to lean in. Eileen closed her eyes. Rigby was about to lean in and kiss her, but he hesitated. He leaned back and opened the door. Eileen opened her eyes and felt awkward as could be. They were both blushing.

Rigby closed the door and began to walk towards the house. But he stopped, turned around, pointed his finger to her at chest level, and said: "Next time?"

Eileen didn't know whether Rigby meant hanging out again next time or that he would kiss her next time. She accepted both of these answers. She smiled and said "Next time."

Eileen drove off and Rigby stood where he was watching her.

"What are you doing Rigby?" he asked himself privately.

Just then, he felt odd. His vision started blurring. His chest was starting to burn. He clenched his chest as he felt as though he was going to collapse.

"Oh Shit!" He realized something. He had left the book in his room the entire night!

Rigby stumbled his way to the house. He could hardly see. His arm was extended to feel where he was going. He tripped on the stairs on the porch. He got back to his feet and shuffled inside. He hugged the wall as he made his way up the steps.

He couldn't breath. Oh God, he couldn't breathe.

He slowly made his way to the room, gasping for breathe along the way. He was blacking out.

He entered the room. His heart was racing. "Where the hell is it?" The bathroom.

Rigby headed to where he left the bag in the bathroom. He pulled out the Enchiridion and a wave of relief hit him. He was back to normal.

But he found himself puzzled. "How did I go the entire night without this thing? Unless... Eileen!"

He thought he felt it before but he didn't think it was true. The Enchiridion loses its grip on him when he's with Eileen!

That's it! That's how he'd get the voice to leave him alone!

While he was there, he remembered Mordecai. The Crown, he had to know if Mordecai still had it. Rigby put the book back into the bag and made his way over to the closet.

Damn, couldn't reach. He pulled over his trampoline. He jumped on it until he got high enough to grab onto the shelf ledge. He felt around with his hands until he felt a round, metallic object. He pulled it down over his should and dropped it onto the floor. He jumped down and went over to the object.

Rigby picked up the object. It was the Crown. Rigby stood there inspecting it until he felt something again. This feeling was a little late.

"What are you doing?" Rigby turned to see Mordecai staring at him with angry eyes.

Mordecai walked over to Rigby and yanked the crown out of his hands. Rigby recoiled from this. Mordecai stared Rigby down for a whole minute before he put the crown back on the shelf and went to bed. Not another word was said.

Rigby left what happened at that and left the room.

If these "feelings" were going to be of any use, he had to learn how to use them.

He headed back to his usual spot in the park where he practiced his magic abilities. But this time, Rigby carried a couple of tennis balls.

Rigby toke a breath and cleared his mind. He took one of the balls and threw it straight into the air. Rigby closed his eyes.

He felt a tingle in his chest and his ear twitched a little. He was turning his head, trying to figure where those feelings were leading him. He lifted his finger and pointed to his right. The ball hit the ground. He opened his eyes to find that he was pointing in the complete other direction.

He threw another ball. This time he focused more intently. Something felt odd but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. His feelings were telling him to turn around. He pointed behind him. The ball once again hit the ground. Rigby opened his eyes to find his hand pointing directly at it.

Rigby continued this practice until he had these feelings almost mastered.

He called these, his "hunches."

But even before he learned exactly what these hunches were, he felt something odd in the air. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like it.

Something seemed off in the world.


	13. Conflict

Mordecai woke up in a sweat again. He was breathing heavy. What the hell was with these nightmares? He looked over to see Rigby staring at him. Mordecai felt awkward.

"You were rambling in your sleep. Are you sure everything is fine?" Rigby asked.

Mordecai stuttered, "Yeah, Just a bad night's sleep, that's all."

Rigby slung his bag on his back. "Okay, just make sure you're ready for work before Benson throws a tantrum."

Rigby left. Mordecai sat alone to his thoughts. He sighed as he wiped the sweat off of his face. His beard was getting longer

"I just had to take the bag! ...Why is this happening to me? If it weren't for that damn Simon! Him and that damn... book..." Mordecai remembered finally. He never really took the book that morning.

If he never took the book then where was it?

It only occurred to him about the bag on Rigby's back. Then it hit him...

Rigby had the Enchiridion!

* * *

That was it. "Of all the stupid, immature, irresponsible shit Rigby could do..." Mordecai thought to himself. Mordecai was not in any mood to joke around.

He had to be the only one, Rigby HAD to be the one with that f*cking book! Mordecai almost broke the door as he stomped outside through the back door. "I'm gonna kill that little bitch! How dare he..."

Rigby was talking to Eileen. Mordecai came over and yelled "Where is it?!"

"What?" Rigby said, startled by the sudden screaming.

"You know what! Where is the God damn book?!" Mordecai was dead serious.

Rigby didn't really appreciate his tone of voice. He was almost offended by his rudeness. So why not be rude back...

Rigby pulled the Enchiridion out of his sack: "You mean this?" Mordecai instantly reached for it but Rigby pulled it back. "Ah ah ah, finder's keepers!" Rigby slyly replied.

"Dude, I am not joking around! Give it back back!" Mordecai now reached again. He had the longer arms and Rigby knew it. So Rigby hugged it to his chest and stepped away from Mordecai.

"What's the magic woooord?" Rigby now said. This was almost like a game to him.

"NOW RIGBY!" Mordecai yelled.

"Jeez, don't go all psycho on me pal!" Rigby said. He was now starting to get angry as well.

"What ever this is about, you two need to stop!" Eileen said as she stepped in between the two.

"This is serious Rigby!" Mordecai said ignoring her.

"Eileen, I think you should go before Mordecai starts to cry..." Rigby replied.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA what that book will do to you! It comes from the same place as that Crown!" Mordecai said, trying to convince his friend to surrender the book.

"What, the crown you still have?!" Rigby replied. Mordecai felt himself getting hot with embarrassment. "And yes I do know what I'm doing! I can control this. It's not making me into some deranged asshole who almost kills everyone he knows!" Rigby yelled in anger. He pushed Mordecai back with those final words.

How dare he... How DARE he...!

Mordecai immediately sent a right hook into Rigby's jaw. This sent Rigby flying to the ground as he started bleeding near the chin.

"You know what Rigby!? How dare YOU of all people! Rigby..." Mordecai sighed as he prepared for the onslaught he was about to commit on Rigby, "You are the dumbest person I have ever met! You get into so much shit that I can't even stand it! You make the same goddamn horrible decisions over and over which ALWAYS ends up forcing ME or Skips or somebody else to risk their lives in order to save your sorry ass! You never learn, no matter how bad you get yourself into, you never learn! You can't even stick up for yourself! You can't do anything Rigby! You can't hit, you can't play video games, you can't even control your own big mouth! Everyone, EVERYONE, Especially Benson and Pops, thinks you are the most irresponsible person on the face of planet earth! True, I have my own mistakes, but they are nothing compared to the constant dangers you put this park in!" Mordecai snatched up the Enchiridion off the ground. "You know what the worst part of it is? You're too stupid to realize that the only girl on Earth who could possibly like a train-wreck like you is Eileen but you keep pushing her back!"

There was a full minute of silence. Rigby was still laying on the ground. His lips were quivering and tears began to fall from his eyes. Mordecai realized what had been said. It was too late though, the damage was done. Eileen was in absolute shock at what had just occurred, too shocked for words even. Mordecai hadn't meant it to be that hard.

But it was true, every word of it was true. No one said it, but all three of them knew it was true.

Mordecai sighed as he turned around and started to walk off.

"AGHHHHHHH" Rigby screamed as he dove straight into Mordecai's back, sending both of them to the ground. Mordecai threw Rigby off of him and stood up. Rigby immediately countered with a right hook straight to Mordecai's face. That one actually hurt... a lot. Rigby isn't the small, weak boy he was a few weeks ago.

After Mordecai recovered for a few seconds, Rigby attempted a gut punch. However, Mordecai was more prepared and blocked his hit. He sent an upper cut into Rigby's chin sending him sailing onto his back.

Rigby tried to get up but Mordecai grabbed Rigby's shoulders and threw him to the ground. Mordecai was now kneeling with Rigby in between his legs. He sent a right hook into Rigby's cheek, then a left hook into the other side of Rigby's face.

This was going to end horribly unless Rigby did something about it. Rigby could feel from his hunches where the next punch would be. He blocked the Mordecai's right hook and turned his head to see the Enchiridion on the ground next to him. He grabbed it and smashed it against Mordecai's left temple (spot on your head above your ear).

Mordecai was now in a daze as white noise filled his ear. Rigby rolled the two of them over. Now Rigby was on top. He sent a right hook flying, then a left. Right, then left. Mordecai tried to get up but Rigby send a punch straight beneath Mordecai's rib cage (a hit there knocks the wind out of you).

Rigby was now hitting over and over again.

"I..." (right hook) "am..." (left hook) "not..." (another hit) "stupid...!"

Rigby was more furious than ever.

The Enchiridion was leading him on further. It was enjoying ever second of this skirmish. It was commanding Rigby's punches now.

_"Again" _It commanded.

Rigby obeyed.

_"Again!"_

Rigby hit again.

_"Again!"_

Rigby wound up his right arm but something stopped him.

"Rigby, stop it! Stop it, that's enough!" Eileen yelled. She had grabbed Rigby's arm. Rigby tried to punch Mordecai again, but Eileen held him back again, this time with a stronger grip.

Rigby turned his head and locked eyes with Eileen. They sat there staring at one another. Slowly, Rigby changed his expression from that of anger to that of regret and guilt. The Enchiridion's grip loosened. It's voice was fading out and was replaced only by Eileen's eyes staring into Rigby's.

Their stare was interrupted by Mordecai's groans. "Oh my God! Mordecai! I'm so sorry!" Rigby said as he turned to his old friend.

It was bad, really bad. Almost the entire left side of Mordecai's face was bleeding and his right eye was purple and swollen. Rigby was apologizing, but Mordecai didn't even hear him. All he heard was white noise and had blurred vision.

Rigby put the book back into his bag on his back. Just then, Benson, Skips, and the others at the park came to investigate the commotion. None of them could believe their eyes: Rigby had beaten the living hell out of Mordecai.

No one said anything, they just kind of stared in awe. Rigby just looked at them with guilty eyes. The best thing to do was to walk away before anything got worse. Rigby got up and went into the house, without saying a word.

* * *

Rigby was wiping the blood off of his chin at the sink in the bathroom.

Eileen walked in to check how he was doing. "What happened back there?"

Rigby looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. "It's nothing. Mordecai's just on his period."

Eileen didn't believe him. "No, I want to know what he meant by that book!"

Rigby replied, "There is nothing wrong! The book has nothing to do with it. Mordecai is just crazy!"

"Rigby, tell me the truth!"

Rigby turned to her and grabbed both of her arms. "I promise, there is nothing you need to worry about." Rigby caught a glance over Eileen's shoulder to see Benson leaning against the doorway to their bedroom. "I think you should go Eileen. I'll see you later."

Eileen hugged him. Rigby was a little stunned but he slowly hugged her back. She left.

With her gone, Benson walked toward his employee.

Rigby spoke before Benson could. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten angry, I just-"

Benson cut him off. "I'm not here to yell at you," Rigby was shocked, "I just want to know if you're okay. I don't think it's anyone's fault."

"You- You don't?"

"Listen, everyone's on edge lately. If you want to tell me what happened, let me know."

Rigby thought this was a little awkward. Benson wasn't really a caring type. "Thanks..."

Benson started to walk out of the room, "Oh, uh, Rigby?"

"Yeah?"

"Get back to work, or... you know... you're fired." Benson said before he left.

* * *

Later, Mordecai confronted Rigby. Mordecai didn't look AS bad. The swelling went down, but his face still looked like crap.

He sighed, "Rigby, I'm sorry for getting angry."

"Forget it ever happened." was Rigby's reply.

They weren't smiling, they weren't joking. They just stared at each other. Mordecai held out his hand in the form of offering a handshake. Rigby shook his hand back. No high fives, no fist bumps, no "Ohh"s. Just silence.

They had an understanding at least in the handshake. Neither of them said it, but each could feel it. They weren't going to mention the Crown or the Enchiridion to each other. Mordecai wasn't going to say anything. Rigby _was_ going to tell Skips, but he figured Mordecai should make his own damn decisions.

Something in their friendship died that day. They weren't exactly "friends" anymore. They almost seemed to be like roommates.

* * *

Later that night, Rigby got his frustration out through the Enchiridion.

He was getting better. Now he was practicing techniques. Flames erupted from every arm stroke. He was able seamlessly form plasma almost instantly.

He had a lot to think about. Mordecai, Eileen, the Enchiridion. He hated the damn book, but he couldn't get rid of it. It was just too damn addicted.

He grew more frustrated the more he thought. His flames were bigger and brighter now. He finally screamed as he formed a fire ball and lobbed it on the ground. A bright explosion of green fire erupted. This relieved _some_ of his stress. He walked over to the flaming mass and formed a shield dome around it. The fire quickly died down.

He was getting another hunch. It wasn't too severe, but he could feel it. Oh crap...

Rigby turned around to see Skips right in front of him.

"Rigby! Do you have any idea what you're dealing with?!"

Rigby was cowering at Skips' every word.

"Give me the book!" Skips demanded.

Rigby was about to grab the book, when he heard, "_Don't listen to him, he just wants it for himself."_

"Rigby, NOW!"

Rigby shook his head no.

Skips approached forward for the book.

"Skips, I can handle it!" Rigby pleaded.

"That thing is too dangerous! Do you even remember what happened to Mordecai?!" Skips said.

"I can control it!"

Skips grabbed onto the Enchiridion. They were both pulling on it separately. Neither side was letting go, "Rigby, let go!"

"NO! You can't!"

"You'll thank me later!" Skips said in between pulls.

"Would you just trust me for once?! No one ever gives me a chance! Trust me, I can handle this!"

There was some truth in Rigby's words. Skips hesitated. Then the voice called to Skips, _"Come on Skips, take me from him. It'll work out just fine..."  
_

Skips let go. He pointed to Rigby, "If you do anything wrong, I'm taking that book off you and burning it."

* * *

The weeks went by as usual. Things almost seemed like normal. Rigby went out with Eileen more, but he still didn't show any real affection to her.

Mordecai was still under the effects of the Crown, but he was... moderating himself, sort of speak. He couldn't completely put it down, but he tried to limit himself. He was getting worse though. His beard was getting longer, his skin was getting colder, and he actually called himself Simon a couple times. All the while, he still tried to keep things under control.

However, the rest of the world was a different story. Events outside of their control were coming to a headway...


	14. Calm Before The Storm

A man could be seen being dragged by the arms. There were five guards around him: 2 dragging him and 3 were their assault rifles aimed at him. The prisoner had a black bag over his head. His arms were behind his back, giving the impression that his hands were tied. He was shirtless and his chest was covered in blood and severe wounds (which he received in torture)

The man was dragged until the doors opened and he was in front of a large crowd of people. They were screaming and yelling at this man. None of them could be understood, but it was easy to tell they hated who ever this poor man was.

The camera man was at the side of the platform they were standing on. One of the guards stood forward. He raised his rifle as he spoke to the crowd. Everything he said was in a foreign language. Whatever he was saying was filled with fiery hate.

The guards threw the man onto his knees. The speaker turned back to the prisoner. He raised the barrel of the rifle to the man's head. The crowd was cheering even more than ever.

* * *

The Screen cut back to the reporter. He was an older man with gray hair. The MNN News logo was slowly spinning in the corner.

"The video you have just watched was released today by the Iranian government. They claimed that a CIA operative has attempted to sabotage one of their research centers. They claim that this center was strictly used for energy purposes and that this attack was unprecedented. The Iranian government also blames this agent for power failures over the past few weeks in the compound.

"Russian President Demitri Puchkev, has claimed that these supposed attacks were highly uncalled for. He announced the start of a tighter defensive pact with Iran and said that Russia will take military action against the U.S. if these attacks continue.

"So far there has been no response on this issue from the White House or the Pentagon...

* * *

The TV shut off. Secretary John Martin loosened his collar. This was bad. He grew hot with nervousness. He failed. Big Time.

The President was the only one in the room with him, "What the f*ck was that!? I left this up to you to solve this! This was _your _responsibility!"

John tried to justify himself, "In my defense, this is the-uh- the fault of the Director of the CIA. I had no direct control over-"

The President was furious, "BULLSHIT! I gave you level 10 access! I told you, 'Use whatever means necessary!' Now _I_ am to blame for one of the most colossal military failures in the past decade! This is not the Cold War anymore John, we should not be answering for espionage activities anymore! Now the damn Russians are breathing down our necks and the UN is going to be looking into this!"

There was silence in the room.

The President finally said, "I am not taking any responsibility for this. In one week's time, you will 'resign' from your post. You will take full responsibility for this and that you went behind my directive. If you so much as breath a word of this conversation..." The President didn't have to finish his sentence, John got the idea. "I don't know how I'm going to clean up this mess, but whatever happens is not going to end well..."

* * *

Rigby came down the steps to find Thomas on the couch intently watching the TV. Rigby ignored him until something caught his eye. It was another one of his hunches: it was telling him to watch what was on.

They were watching the same broadcast from before. They both sat in silence watching it. Rigby didn't really pay attention to the news. He mostly thought what was on it was unimportant, but this one actually scared him a little. He didn't know why, it just felt... odd...

Rigby looked at the couch to see Thomas. One of his knees was shaking and his hands were folded at his chin as he was watching intently. "Dude, why you watchin' the news?" Rigby said. Thomas almost jumped out of his socks. He didn't realize Rigby was behind him and it made him jump. "All you're doing is scaring yourself."

Thomas calmed down, "I don't know, I just like to know what's going on in the world."

"Who cares? It's all a bunch of boring people blabbering about the same stuff every day. Blah blah blah war in Africa blah blah blah shooting in the slums blah blah blah." Rigby replied.

Thomas thought this was odd. No one he met ever felt this way about the news. "So if we were about to be nuked, how would you know if you don't watch the news?" he challenged.

"Well everyone else would be running around screaming, so... yeah..." Rigby replied. Thomas groaned at this stupid answer.

Mordecai passed through the living room. Rigby backed up to allow Mordecai to pass. Neither of them even looked in each other's directions.

Thomas felt bad for the two of them. For the little time he has been working there, it seemed like those two were the best of friends. He didn't know what happened between them.

* * *

Mordecai was making another one of his usual trips. So far there was only one thing that seemed to lessen the pain from the Crown: Alcohol. It wasn't the best method, but it worked. Quite ironic actually; getting rid of an addiction through an addiction.

He parked the cart in McHooligan's parking lot. For a quick second, he checked the rear view mirror. His beard was growing. It wasn't really that long, but it was getting thicker. It wasn't a real problem, he actually kind of liked it.

He walked in and took a seat at the bar. The bartender met him, "What'll it be this time?"

"I think today I'll just have a beer."

The bartender returned with a large cup full of the brownish liquor. He said, "You know, you've been in here almost every day-"

Mordecai interrupted, "I'll drink however I want." The bartender sighed as he walked away shaking his head.

Mordecai was about to take a drink when he looked in the mirror on the other side of the bar.

The reflection wasn't his own. Mordecai only saw a grim reflection of Simon holding a beer in the exact same position. Simon's beard was long and his skin a deep blue. It was grimly smiling back at Mordecai.

It was getting worse. Mordecai was seeing Simon everywhere. He couldn't stop the Crown, he could only delay it.

Mordecai held his beer forward giving a toast to his hallucination before chugging the whole glass.

When he finished, he looked back at the mirror: only Mordecai's own reflection remained.

"Hey bartender? Can I get another round?"


	15. Friends and Fears

Rigby couldn't concentrate at all. Something about that news broadcast bothered him. He couldn't focus at all.

When he finished mowing the lawn, he turned to look at his work: everything was patchy. They were large areas that he completely missed altogether.  
He sighed as he started the mower again. The engine in the mower began to loudly hum. When Rigby looked up, he wasn't looking at the park anymore... He was looking at Twin Peaks, except under complete destruction. Planes and bombs rained everywhere! The hum of the engine was replaced by the loud buzz of jet bombers above. The sky was dark and the fire from the rest of the city was bright beyond belief. One of the planes above dropped a bomb; it was heading straight for Rigby. Rigby screamed as he hid his face with arm.

Nothing happened...

Rigby uncovered his face to see the park, just as it was with the mower in front of him. He was panting and sweating. Was that a hallucination or a vision? ...or was it a hunch? Rigby turned to see Muscle Man staring at him with such a confused look. Rigby just turned back to his work and tried to ignore what just happened...

After he re-mowed the lawn, right this time, he wiped the sweat off his face. "Finally finished..." Rigby thought to himself as he looked upwards. It was a somewhat cloudy day. But something caught his eye. It was a bright object streaming across the sky. It was glowing bright orange. Then hundreds, no no, it must have been thousands appeared behind the clouds. Rigby wiped his eyes, "No, no, what's going on?!" He looked back up, they were still there.

"...Rigby! ...Rigby!"

Rigby looked back and turned around. It was Benson. Rigby looked back at the sky for just a quick glance. Only clouds, nothing else.

"Rigby... is everything alright?" Benson asked.

"...Yeah... Just think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Rigby responded.

Benson finally got to the point, "Anyway, do you know where Mordecai went to?" Rigby shook his head. Benson groaned, "This is the fifth time he's ditched work! If he's not back here in the next ten minutes, he's fired!"

Just at that moment, Mordecai drove back in the cart. "Speak of the devil... MORDECAI!" Benson screamed as he walked towards him.

Rigby turned and walked in the other direction. Whatever Mordecai and Benson were arguing about was blocked out. All Rigby could hear was white noise. His head was ringing beyond belief. It was like the worst migraine he ever had. He could barely walk now. He put his hand on a tree, almost falling on to it. He looked around, expecting some kind of terrible vision.

Nothing... No visions, no hallucinations, nothing...

Eventually his symptoms wore away. but he still felt like shit.

The Enchiridion wasn't doing anything to him, this was something that Rigby himself was feeling. The book knew what everything meant, but it didn't want Rigby to do anything too drastic... it still needed Rigby, for the time being that is.

* * *

When it was break time, Rigby went over to the snack bar. Thomas was working the register. When he saw Rigby coming, he grabbed two sodas out of the fridge and hopped over the register.

Since Mordecai wasn't his main friend anymore, Rigby seemed kind of lonely. He found himself talking to Thomas more. He and Rigby actually started to be really good friends, not on the level Mordecai and Rigby used to be, but good enough. Thomas was just happy to have someone to actually hang out with.

Thomas tossed Rigby a soda as they took a seat at one of the tables.

Everything Thomas was saying was a blur to Rigby. He still couldn't concentrate. Maybe he was talking about college or work? Rigby didn't know nor did he pay attention.

"Rigby... Rigby?"

"Huh, what?" Rigby snapped back into the conversation.

"You alright?" Thomas asked concerningly.

"Yeah, I'm just out of it... you ever have those days where just like, you couldn't focus on anything?" Rigby replied. Thomas nodded.

"Thomas took a gulp of his soda. "So what's got you down?"

"... I don't know man... I just got a lot of stuff on my mind..."

"What kind of stuff?"

Rigby looked at him sternly. "Stuff. Can we just leave it at that?"

Thomas threw his hands in the air, sending a message that he was backing off that subject.

Rigby finally said, "You don't think what they said on the news is anything to worry about?"

Thomas chuckled to himself. "One minute he hates the idea of news now he's terrified by it. Ignorance at its finest. This can't be what's getting him down?"

Rigby noticed Thomas's laughter: "You know what? Forget it..."

"Rigby, no, I-"

"Just forget it!" Rigby interrupted. He looked down at his soda. Usually he would gulp the stuff down in seconds, but now he couldn't even stomach the stuff. His stomach was already sick from all his visions from earlier. He tried to change the subject to lighten up the mood. "So Thomas, you interested in anyone?"

"What?" Thomas asked.

"You know, Chicks! You seeing someone? Interested in anyone?"

Thomas never really thought about it that intensely. Between juggling a job at the park, college grades, and home life, he never really paid attention to getting a girlfriend. Thomas just shrugged his shoulders and embarrassingly chuckled, "No actually. I never really thought about it. I don't even know the first thing."

Rigby grinned and almost screamed, "DUDE! I'll totally hook you up sometime!"

"Says the guy who doesn't even have a girlfriend!"

"Nu-uh! Did you forget about Eileen?" Rigby replied.

Thomas grinned, "Did you kiss her yet?"

"...Screw you..." Rigby weakly replied as he blushed.

Thomas burst out laughing. Soon Rigby joined in. It was nice really. It was nice having a friend to hang out with. Rigby was just happy Thomas was his friend. He didn't really have any other close friends.

"_He's a goner." _It was the voices again. Thomas was still laughing his ass off, but Rigby started to die his down. _"Face it, he's too nice and too weak. Mamma's boy, not survivor material. I wouldn't be surprised if you killed him yourself." _Rigby's laugh became a worried frown. _"You know its true too..." _

Rigby's head was pounding like no other. He grasped his head as his mind was running a million things at once. What kind of sick game was the book playing on him? When will it end?

Thomas saw Rigby's condition. Thomas got a little worried himself. "Rigby, you okay?"

Rigby got out of his chair and started to walk off. "I got to go. I just, I think I might be sick."

Thomas just stood there. What just happened...?

"Don't worry Rigby, When you're hanging out with Eileen tonight, you'll forget all this shit!"

_"Are you sure about that...?"_

**:: Two more Chapters until the End of Part 1. What do you think so far? Any suggestions/future predictions?::**


	16. Revelations

When all the work was finished for the day, Rigby went to his room. He had it hidden in his dresser for a whole week. It cost him almost 100 bucks, but he thought it was worth it. It was a small, long box. He slid it into his pack.

The book didn't try to reconvince him that he didn't like her. Instead, it's meaning was more sinister: _"You know she's going to die. She's going to die a long, painful death. And there is nothing you can do to stop it. Nothing..."_

Rigby took the book out and threw it to the other side of them room. He hated that goddamn thing with a passion. But he still couldn't get rid of it.

He heard the honk of a car horn. He looked outside, it was Eileen's car. Rigby looked back at the Enchiridion. He left it right where it sat. He ran down and hopped into the passenger seat. "Hey Rigby" she said with a smile. She was happy to see him.

"Hey Eileen he replied," He was happy to see her too. He still didn't openly admit it to himself, but he really liked Eileen. A lot actually. The past few weeks with her were some of the funnest he's had.

They still never actually kissed. The most the did was hug, but Rigby wanted to change that.

* * *

When they drove back, it was around 10 o'clock. They had spent the whole night doing whatever. They ate at Cheezer's before hanging out at the roller skate alley and even went to see a quick movie.

"That was a lot of fun Rigby." Eileen said smiling at Rigby.

"Well who said it was over?" Rigby replied. Eileen seemed a little confused. Rigby got out of the passenger seat and ran around to the driver's door. "Move over," he said as he got into the driver's seat. "Close your eyes, I want this to be a surprise."

Eileen was giddy on the inside. Rigby never did anything nice for her like this before. "Rigby, what's going on?"

"Do you trust me?" Rigby asked as he turned to her. Eileen nodded. "Then close your eyes." Eileen sighed as she covered her eyes with her palms.

It was a slightly bumpy drive.

After about five minutes, Rigby parked the car. "Keep your eyes closed" he said as he opened the door. He ran around to the passenger door as he helped Eileen out. She still had her eyes closed.

"...okay... Open!"

Eileen opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw. It was the lake, but with the moon over it at such an angle that the whole lake seemed to be glowing. The tips of the nearby trees glimmered with light from the moon.

"What do you think?" Rigby asked. Rigby got the idea for this from when he and Muscle Man set Mordecai and Margaret up that kissing bet.

"It's beautiful Rigby," Eileen said as she walked over to the lake, her eyes glowing with delight.

Rigby stayed behind for a moment. He reached into his bag and pulled out a pack tic-tacs, popped two into his mouth, and then ran over to her.

As he stood next to her, he pulled out the small box from his bag. He handed it to her. "Here, girls like this kind of cheesy crap." He was blushing as she took it from him.

As she opened it she covered her mouth as she gasped. It was a silver chained necklace with a red gemstone on the end of it.

"Rigby... this is, " She was too surprised and shocked for words.

Rigby guessed what her next question was going to be, "Well I thought this would make up for me never paying. Do you like it?"

She grabbed Rigby's shoulder and pulled him in. Rigby's lips pressed against Eileen's. Eileen's eyes were closed, but Rigby's were wide open. He was surprised by this. He had no idea how to react. This was his first kiss.

After a few seconds, his eyes closed and he embraced the kiss. It was official, he liked her, a lot. He felt almost relieved that he could finally admit it to himself. He never felt this way in his life.

Finally, after all this time, Eileen got that kiss. She finally got Rigby to like her back. After three years, she finally got what she wanted.

Suddenly Rigby heard faint whispers. "No no no, not now!" He didn't have the Enchiridion, but his visions were coming back. His head was pounding and his stomach was in knots. He couldn't see anything, but he was hearing things. He could faintly hear screaming. He had no idea whose it was or where it was coming from. He heard gunshots. It was broken of by Eileen's screaming: _"RIGBY!"_

Rigby pulled back from the kiss. He was panting and he was sweating. "I-I'm sorry, I can't do this..." He was panting, he was on the brink of tears.

"I can't, I... I'm sorry. I got to go..." Rigby ran off

Eileen was confused by all of this. "Rigby, wait!" She screamed as he ran off. But Rigby didn't stop.

* * *

Rigby was wiping his tears as he was running. "What the f*ck is wrong with me?!" His chest was aching, his heart was racing.

He wasn't in the range of Eileen or the Enchiridion now. His vision was starting to blur. He didn't care, he just kept running. He was losing his breath.

He managed to make into the house and ran up to his room. He came back to normal once he was near the book, but he was still crying.

He ran to the bathroom to try to calm himself down. He took a handful of water from the sink and splashed it into his face. He was breathing heavily over the sink. His crying wore down.

He slowly walked back into the room. Thank God Mordecai wasn't there. Rigby turned his attention to the book. It was in the corner from where he had thrown it earlier. He picked it up and put it back into his bag.

He took it off his back and placed it next to his trampoline. He crawled under his makeshift covers and fell asleep.

* * *

Rigby was running. Gunshots were ringing out behind him. He had no idea where he was at, all around him was dark.

One of the bullets hit Rigby in the back and he fell. He didn't hit the ground though, it actually felt like he fell upwards. He was on his feet. Eileen was there. Her back was facing him and she was crying. Rigby tried to walk towards her but he was being pulled backwards. No matter how hard he tried to run, he only moved back. Eileen turned around. She had no pupils in her eyes, only deep white eyes. He closed his eyes and turned away from her.

When he opened them he was on a hill looking down on the city. In the blink of an eye, a nuclear explosion went off on the other end. It was too bright to look had, Rigby hid his eyes for a moment. He looked back. The wave of fire was coming straight towards him. He held his arms out in front of him but the shockwave ripped through his body as it lifted him off his feet.

He hit the ground hard. He opened his eyes. There were hundreds of people standing around him. Not a single one of them had any pupils in their eyes. In front of them was everyone at the park. Skips looked at him, raised his arm pointing to Rigby. And like that, the crowd was upon him. He tried to fight them off, but they were grabbing at him from all sides.

Rigby screamed as he fell through the ground. Everything around him was dark. He was falling, falling, falling...

He hit the ground with a loud, echoing _thud._ Rigby slowly got up. There was mirror in front of him. Rigby's reflection was staring back at him. His reflection made an evil smirk as it started to laugh. His reflection put its arms down at its sides and created a fireball in each hand. The reflection was growing and changing.

It was morphing into a large demonic creature. It had a torn skull for a head with deep black pits and single green pupils for eyes. It had two distorted horns, each on the side of its head. Its arms were bony and it wore a large cloke.

It stepped outside of the mirror and was looking down on Rigby. It raised its arm, with a fireball still in hand, and brought it down on Rigby. Rigby screamed and closed his eyes as it came down.

* * *

Rigby jolted forward from his trampoline. He was dripping with sweat. Tears were streaming down from his eyes. His breathing was heavy and his hands were shaking.

It finally hit Rigby: these weren't just visions or hallucinations, these were hunches.

Something terrible was going to happen here. Something unlike anything anyone had ever seen before in their lives.

Oh God, oh God, what the hell should he do? Rigby was now frantic. The clock said 5:30 AM but Rigby didn't care. A million thoughts raced through the little raccoon's head.

He looked over to the calendar. Today's date was covered in blood. Rigby blinked his eyes and it was gone, but he got the message.

Whatever thing was coming was going to happen today!

Rigby decided to pack. But pack for what? He wasn't sure. He opened his pack and threw some clothes in it. He frantically checked around the room for anything that seemed like it could be useful.

Mordecai finally woke up. He hazily looked around the room. "Rigby, what the hell are you doing?"

Rigby didn't even look at him. "Packing"

"Wha- packing for what?" Mordecai asked as he wiped his eyes.

There wasn't anything useful left in their room. He turned to Mordecai, "If I'm right... everything we know is going to end. Today." At this note Rigby picked up his pack and left the room.

What Rigby said scared Mordecai a little. He didn't exactly believe Rigby, but the whole ordeal was a little worrisome.

* * *

Rigby was frantically listing things in his mind on what to pack. "Okay okay okay, I need food, water, first aid stuff, clothes: check, outdoor supplies... a gun" Rigby had seen too much tv. He figured that whatever was going to happen, society was going to go to shit. He needed a way to protect himself. True, he had magic. But magic could only take him so far. His fireballs could be dodgable as they still needed to be thrown, his flames had only a somewhat close range, and he wasn't sure how his shields held up against bullets. Plus he already knew how to shoot.

The only place he could get a gun was... Rigby sighed. He hated the thought of it. But he needed a gun, and he needed to warn people. Yes, even people he hated.

He came up with his plan of action, he would stop by _there, _come back to the house, get the rest of his supplies, warn everyone at the park, then get Eileen. He cared for her now and didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

Rigby ran out of the house, bag still on his back, and hopped into one of the carts. He turned it on and drove off, heading to Don's house...


	17. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Would he believe Rigby? He didn't think so... but after all, he was family. Even if Rigby hated his living guts, he was family. And family looks out for each other. That, and he had something Rigby wanted.

Rigby drove the cart into Don's drive-way. His brother had a VERY nice house, it almost qualified as a mansion. A white, pristine, spacious house which had a pool, a basketball court, the works. And it was completely private too. It was out in the woods not exactly secluded, but not exactly isolated. It was maybe about 10 miles away from the park, but it was still out of range of the buzz of city or suburban life. It was a paradise home, which Don bragged about to Rigby, sometimes a little too much.

Rigby parked parallel to Don's red convertible. He left the enchiridion in the cart and rang Don's doorbell.

"Rigby? Wha-what are you doing here?" Don asked surprised by his brother's appearance as he opened the door.

"Don, I need my .45 back." This took Don at a shock for a second.

"Sure, bro, just give me a minute, come on inside." Rigby hated going to his brother's asking HIM for a favor. And the interior of his house didn't help. It was gorgeous; no BEYOND gorgeous. Rigby figured even the president himself would be jealous, and Rigby was too. Don always got everything nice: nice house, nice car, a nice job. But what did Rigby get? Nothing... And Rigby hated his brother for this.

"Here you go" Don said as he tossed a small brown box to Rigby. He opened it to check its contents. Inside was Rigby's old .45 M1911 (Google image for a second if you need to) with some extra clips. Rigby and his brother had always been crack shots ever since they were little. Don could hit a target dead center 100 feet away, but Rigby could do it at 300 feet. It was the one and only thing Rigby was better at. However, (with the exception of Pops, Muscle Man, and himself), Benson didn't really allow guns at the park; particularly to the "most irresponsible worker in the park." So Rigby had to keep it at Don's since he started his job.

"Rigby what's all this about?" Don asked. He noticed something was off about Rigby ever since he stepped in the door. "I though Benson didn't allow you to have guns. Did something happen?"

"Don, listen... Something terrible is coming. I-I can't explain it, it's just that everything we know is going to go to shit. I think it may or may not have something to do with what's going on on the news but I'll probably need this just in case. I'm just trying to warn you ahead of time." Rigby began to walk out of the house into the drive-way.

Don was taken back by this sudden announcement. "Why do you think that's going to cause everything to go to crap?" Don said as he followed his older brother.

"I, I don't know exactly." Rigby admitted. Not even he knew what exactly was coming, but he knew it was unlike anything anyone has ever seen before.

"Listen, I heard what happened between you and Mordecai. I know you're probably paranoid and stressed, but if this is about something or some kind of prank..." Don said.

"This isn't about anything!" Rigby sighed frustratedly before calming down, "I'm only telling you what I know. You just need to get ready for whatever's coming. That's what I'm doing" Rigby replied back.

Rigby was serious, dead serious. Don had heard some pretty stupid stuff from his brother before, but this... this took the cake... "So what, you just want me to drop everything over what? Some kind of hunch you've had?"

Rigby knew he was losing his brother's favor. To him itself it even sounded dumb. "Look, I had this dream-"

"A dream?! Oh, that makes it so much more important! Do you even think Rigby? I swear I have never once seen you think before you act. I really wish you could hear yourself talking because it's always something ridiculous or convoluted. I know it's tough to do, but at least THINK For once in your life!"

Rigby was in the range of the Enchiridion now. He was infuriated by what he heard. His hatred for his brother grew every second. This was the worst thing Rigby hated about Don, he _always _made Rigby feel like the biggest f*ck up to walk the earth! He always had to be such a smart-ass. As a kid, as a teen, now even, Don ALWAYS made Rigby feel like an idiot. The Enchiridion was urging him on, encouraging him to get angrier.

"Don... I hate you so much... but I'm telling you this because I am afraid. After all the shit I've been through at the park, after EVERYTHING, this scares me more than anything I have ever seen. I am terrified to the point of death, and you should be too. But you won't listen, no of course not. You act so high and mighty all the time and you look at me as if I was the biggest retard on the planet, and you know what? I've always wished I was an only child..."

Rigby had thought it over the years, but he never said it to his face. Even Rigby himself was shocked. Don's face said everything: He felt deeply and utterly betrayed. All those years, all those years he spent with his brother... and this was how he felt? No, how dare he... How DARE Rigby!

Don just looked at him calmly and said "I don't know what I expected from you. I have tried being nice to you all these years, I have tried to be your brother, and this is what I get? You don't even know I exist! You've never once visited me because you wanted to, it's always just some selfish need."

Rigby turned away at this point, heading back to the cart. He realized the error of his way: "I'm sorry Don..."

"You don't hate me Rigby," Rigby turned around as Don said this, "you're just angry at the fact that everyone hates you and loves me, especially mom and dad..."

Rigby snapped. His head began to ache, his eyes were tearing up. It hurt, but it was true.

His attitude change. But that wasn't the worse part. Something was creeping inside, something trying to get into him. Rigby was getting angrier and angrier. His hands began to burn up. His hands emitted their notorious green flames. But Rigby didn't do that, in fact, someone else made him. Rigby wasn't even in control of his actions any more. What was going on?! He couldn't see it, but he could feel the Enchiridion emitting light in the back of the cart, until it grew brighter and brighter and brighter until it began to ignite into green flames.

Rigby's flame drenched arms rose up and slammed downwards towards the ground.

* * *

Rigby caught his breath. He had no idea where he was at. It was dark, it was cold, and it was unlike any place he'd ever seen before. Rigby looked down and saw his own breath. Everything, _everything_ around Rigby was pitch black.

Unknown to Rigby, he was in the darkest place you could possibly be in, one which in the distant futurem a boy named Finn would learn too well of: A different realm inside of, created by, and maintained by a certain demonic being... it was called_ The Abyss._

Much like the Ice Crown, the Enchiridion's first possession leaves the victim trapped and without realization of what is happening.

Rigby could hear a faint, muffled explosion which seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then there was gunfire, another explosion, and then terrifying, ear-piercing screaming which engraved itself forever more into Rigby's brain.

* * *

Suddenly the world was shifting back, _IT_ couldn't hold him there forever. Rigby was once again in his own body, unfortunately...

Compared to what he saw next, Rigby would've stayed in the _Abyss_ forever.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the Enchiridion floating in the air in front of him. Its fire dimmed out as it fell to the ground. Behind it was Don's house, reduced to a burning pile of rubble and ashes. And there, laying on the ground just feet away from Rigby... was Don's burned body.

"Oh God! DON!" He ran over to his remains. His M1911 lay next to Don's limp hand. The tears were coming quickly now. Rigby had always been a cry baby, but this...this was the exception when it was okay to cry like an infant. Looking over his fallen brother, all he could say was "I'm sorry!" He was too shaken for any other words. He just screamed it over, and over, and over. Why did it have to be like this? Why did he have to be so angry before? All those years he hated Don while his brother secretly looked up to him... all those years, until he was a teen Don had thought of Rigby as the greatest brother on earth... all those years... and this was his reward...

_"Look at what you've done"_ the Enchiridion mocked back at him. _"Oh, you'll never let this go" _

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Rigby screamed in the direction of the demonic book.

_"I don't understand why you're angry at ME, YOU'RE the one who killed him!"_

"SHUT UP!" Rigby yelled as he threw the wretched thing. It was too late, the damage was done, and his brother lay there lifeless.

Police sirens could be heard in the distance...

Rigby didn't have time to stay any longer, he looked over his brother one last time, Don's blank eyes seemingly staring right into Rigby's soul. Rigby would never forget those eyes.

The cart was destroyed, he had no choice to go out on foot. It was at least 10 miles from here to the park and he probably shouldn't take any main roads. He'd have to be fast. Rigby headed off, but not before he remembered something. He was stopped in his tracks. The Enchiridion, he couldn't leave without it. He hated that book, beyond belief... he needed it though. Rigby ran back, grabbed his gun then the book before running off into the woods.

The Enchiridion's job was done. It had accomplished what it sought out for: a host. Yes, Rigby was the perfect subject. He was ignorant, weak, and easy to anger: the perfect specimen for _Its_ plans. _It _already had procured itself onto Rigby. Now it would be easier to take control each time now.

The plans were made, the stage was set, the acting parties in their places, and an unimaginable evil was already unraveling.

Let the show begin...

**::This is the end of _Part 1: One Small Spark... _Stay tuned for _Part 2: No__ Hope._**

**What do you think so far? Leave a review and let me know any possible predictions, suggestions, or ideas.::**


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